Elephant meets elephant for first time in 37 years
Imagine going almost four decades without seeing another person.
Kind of like Will Smith in “I Am Legend,” but not really because he dealt with a scary version of people. But for an elephant named Mila, it was her life.
The 41-year-old pachyderm spent more than 3o years of her life as a circus elephant in New Zealand never seeing other elephants.
Her keepers decided she needed interaction and with the help of staff and supporters were able to raise $1.5 million to get Mila to the San Diego Zoo.
After a few months of getting integrated into her new environment, Mila was allowed a face-to-face encounter with another elephant. Mary, the matriarch of the herd, was chosen because she “is relatively calm, and has a good track record with meeting newcomers.”
“Mary was curious of the newbie, while Mila was surprised to find something as big as her on the other side of the wall!” according to the San Diego Zoo’s blog.
But if you watch the video, it was more touching than that. The two share what looks like a warm trunk embrace. Unless that’s the pachyderm version of arm wrestling, then Mary went all “Over the Top” Sylvester Stallone-style on Mila.
Have you seen a video you’d like to share? Contact Graydon Johns at gjohns@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @gjohns.
