It was a beautiful moment between mother and daughter – an elephant in Germany who had been separated from her daughter is reunited after 12 years.
Pori, the 39-year-old elephant, has been living at a zoo in Berlin but last week was moved to Bergzoo in Halle, central Germany, where she was reunited with her daughter Tana.
The zoo, which also has a chimpanzee house, posted an image of mother and daughter touching trunks for the first time since 2008.
Staff said Pori was born as a wild elephant in Africa in 1981 and two years later arrived in Germany. In 2002 she gave birth to Tana but 6 years later her daughter was moved to a different zoo.
Since their time apart Tana has become a mother herself to two calves four-year-old Tamika and Elani who is just one.
An image of the two elephants touching trunks was shared on Instagram where more than 1,000 people reacted.
Staff said it would be a few days before the elephants could be together as they wanted to make sure they got used to each other first.
“In order to give the animals the opportunity to get to know each other again in peace, the elephant house will remain closed for the time being.”
It seems the gentle reintroduction was a success and the zoo’s latest post featured an image of the elephants playing together alongside the words: “Family reunification more than successful! Elani and Tamika were also happy about their grandmother. Welcome Pori omi ❤️”
Female bull elephants usually head up the herd, males stay with their mothers for around 8 years while females usually remain with their moms, as per Elephants Forever.
‘Natural family structures’
Zoo director, Dr Dennis Muller, said: “Pori’s arrival in Halle is an important step in modern elephant husbandry,” as per LadBible.
“In the future, all elephant herds in European zoos should be cared for in such natural family structures. Today we have come a great deal closer to this goal.”
Such a beautiful reunion after so many years. I hope they can now enjoy their time together as a family in peace.
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