Baby elephant Navann: a photo essay
Our baby elephant Navann is seriously adorable! Don't you think?
Chang Yim has a little sister – Elephant Nature Park proudly welcomes Dok Mai
April is a month of festivity for us here at Elephant Nature Park. Songkran, the Buddhist new year, followed by Faa Mai’s birthday along with ENP’s 10-year anniversary are cause of great celebration. Thanks to Dok Ngern and the wonders of nature, we now have yet another reason to be filled with happiness and merriment this year — the arrival of Dok Mai.
We do not often advertise the possibly pregnant females who are roaming about the park. Since the gestation period is from 18 to 22 months, the build up of waiting and excitement can drive you crazy. Here at Elephant Nature Park, based on activities witnessed on several occasions, we had a feeling that a few of our females were most likely expecting.
After the birth of Navann in late October, we started to pay much more attention to the bellies, breasts and behavior of our ladies who have been reproductively active in the past two years.
Oh, to be an elephant … to fully understand their conversations and body language. They know exactly what is going on with each other and who will give birth when.
We, on the other hand, can just wait.
This time, they tricked us.
Elephant Nature Park’s Mae Keow ready for companionship?
It is hard to imagine anything more amazing than Kham Sai’s acceptance into the family group – but (!) there is yet another exciting social development in the works here at Elephant Nature Park … and it involves Mae Keow.
Many of our followers are quite familiar with Mae Keow. Almost two years ago she lost her best friend of 12 years, Lily. The passing of her dear companion shattered Mae Keow, who has not been the same since. With Lily by her side, Mae Keow was confident, sometimes a bully (known as a tail-biter) and possessive (when she was the adopted auntie of Jungle Boy,) among other things.
After Lily’s passing, Mae Keow appeared to lose her self confidence. She became shy and reclusive. She seemed to lack the social skills to make new friends and had passive/aggressive tendancies. Her only companion was her mahout of 4-plus years, Moses.
Mae Keow withdrew.
She spent most of her time up in the front corner of the park, only coming out to go to the river for bathing time. We were very worried about her, but we understood that her emotional healing had to happen in it’s own time.
A recent change in the elephant shelter arrangement became the first step in helping Mae Keow to reach out socially.
Elephant Nature Park’s Shy Kham Sai Finds Family
Elephant Nature Park has been waiting for this moment for a long time.
This is a story we have been longing to post. One of our most shy and withdrawn elephants, who has spent almost all of her years at Save Elephant Foundation’s ENP on her own, has finally found the friendship that she has been longing for!! The elusive Mae Kham Sai has been mentioned from time to time and known as one of our reclusive and seldom seen elephants.
Mae Kham Sai with the family herd.
Elephant Nature Park’s Navann Enjoys New Nannies
Four-month-old Navann has been having more fun than ever in the past few weeks at Elephant Nature Park.
His evening trips to the mud pit accompanied by mom Sri Prae and auntie Mae Kham Paan have been lasting longer and longer, finally climaxing with the long awaited first trip to the river.
At first we had thought that Sri Prae would not feel safe taking Navann to the river without a few more guardians, so we were not pushing the idea. The plan was to introduce Malai Tong and Jarunee to see if they all could get on without any stress or conflict. While this was still in the works, Mae Kham Paan and Navann decided they were ready, taking the initiative and heading to the river’s edge one fine afternoon after an extended romp in the mud. Once the two of them reached the water, Sri Prae could do nothing but follow.
Navann’s herd grows to include Malai Tong and Jarunee as aunties (from left – right: Sri Prae, Mae Kham Paan, Navann, Malai Tong, Jarunee)
Navann could not have been more excited! The river was a giant wading pool to him. He could hardly contain himself — rushing around splashing and tumbling down into the water, Mom and Auntie doing their best to keep him inbetween their legs. That first experience was kept short and sweet but from that day forward, playing in the river became part of the routine and something that Navann looked forward to with great anticipation.
Elephant Nature Park’s Lucky Settles In
Lucky, who arrived to Save Elephant Foundation’s Elephant Nature Park just over one month ago, has settled in so well that it does not even feel like we have a new elephant! Lucky has joined with Mae Bua Loy, Mae Boon Ma and Dani. The trio has accepted Lucky completely and they are mostly inseparable.
Lucky with her new friends, Mae Boon Ma, Mae Bua Loy and Dani (absent)
Lucky was the star attraction of the ‘Lucky Circus’, which was based in Surin but travelled all over Thailand. She went blind due to years of performing under the spotlights. For the last three years she was kept at her owner’s home. Though treated like family, Lucky was not allowed to roam much and was very reliant on people to give her direction.
Elephant Nature Park’s Mae Kham Puan Turns Social
Mae Kham Puan and Tilly have been best friends since about a month after Tilly’s arrival to Save Elephant Foundation’s Elephant Nature Park. To say that this pair is a handful is a bit of an understatement.
Mae Kham Puan is 90 percent blind, which makes Tilly the dominant force in the relationship. Tilly is a bit on the rebellious side and often takes to running away from the mahouts, ignoring their calls to “stop” or “come back.” Obviously, this means that Mae Kham Puan follows Tilly loyally, no matter where she goes.
Elephant Nature Park’s Baby Navann Gets Down and Dirty
Elephant Nature Park’s newest mother ‘Mae’ Sri Prae is a bit on the cautious side to say the least! Since Navann’s arrival the pair have spent most of their time in the shelter with the occasional outing at the end of the day. Navann is so curious and over-excited to explore everything and everywhere, he often takes off running ahead of Sri Prae and grandma-auntie Mae Kham Paan. This, of course, causes them to panic and charge after him.
More often than not, Navann is rushing towards other elephants, either with the intention of introducing himself to them or sometimes out of confusion, wanting to take refuge under their bodies — forgetting that the females who are expecting that kind of behavior are actually BEHIND him!
These situations can lead to chaos and unexpected harm, possibly to Navann. Trying to stop an overexcited, healthy, robust three-month-old bull elephant on a mission is no easy task!
Sri Prae has become accustomed to the boundaries of the chain-free shelter and knows Navann is safe to run as he wishes when in their space, but the outside world is a different story! When released it can sometimes take a while for Sri Prae and Mae Kham Paan to relax and enjoy themselves.
The mud pit has been the destination of choice on the most recent outings.
Elephant Nature Park Rescues Elephant from Circus
30-year-old Lucky finds new home at Thailand sanctuary CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Feb. 13, 2013) – Thanks to Save Elephant Foundation (SEF), one elephant who spent her life performing in a circus has a new home, and a new lease on…