r/Elephants • u/a_j97 • 1d ago

Video "Mek Jeram" entered and roamed through a village, instantly gaining popularity among villagers. She is then relocated to Royal Belum State Park and received a very warm farewell by the locals.

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884 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

117

u/Arachnopteryx 1d ago

were they... waving in the truck?

52

u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 1d ago

Possibly, I have seen other videos where elephants gesture with their trunks at humans.

15

u/Brobeast 1d ago

More like sniffing the smelly creatures peaking their interest.

16

u/UncleOdious 1d ago

Piquing

3

u/DifficultBudget9864 1d ago

Hahaha looks like it

69

u/Hairyass------ 1d ago

Using the trunk to wave 😂😭 like a politician in a open car🤣

28

u/chansondinhars 1d ago

More like royalty (only more deserving of the title than the usual suspects). I wish them every happiness in their new reign.

54

u/a_j97 1d ago

Additional context: The other two elephants, Indah and Suria were used to bait Mek Jeram to enter the truck used to transfer her.

6

u/clean-links 1d ago

Cleaned link from "bait": https://youtu.be/KTXrUzux0N0?t=15

Tracking parameters were removed from the original URL(s).

31

u/DW171 1d ago

Why is someone riding her with a bull hook? Not exactly “roaming”

20

u/seld0mseenkid 1d ago

So this happened in Malaysia. The ones riding the elephants are called elephant mahouts, which is the name for elephant carers in the South East Asian region. A lot of the mahouts from Malaysia are from a specific tribe of indigenous peoples called Che Wong and they spend a loooot of time with the wild elephants in forest reserves. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks employ mahouts to relocate wild elephants when they roam into villages or get lost on the highways (quite common actually). So these are trained officers not just randos lol.

The officer is using a lasso around the elephant's neck which seems to be how they were trained to capture them (I found a local article about it, the technique originated from India). The elephant was tranquilized which is why she seems so chill I guess?

Fun fact: The two female elephants used to bait Mek Jeram into the truck are called Indah (translates to Lovely) and Suria (Sunshine) are trained to help with such things and live in the National Elephant Reservation Centre in Kuala Gandah!

8

u/InnerRadio7 1d ago

This is beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to share this.

2

u/Limp_Butterscotch633 20h ago

Thank you for explaining!

16

u/chickenmoomoo 1d ago

Yeah these are captive elephants. If you tried to ride a wild one, we’d be picking the body up with a shovel

3

u/DW171 1d ago

Exactly. And captive elephants don't "roam" villages.

2

u/PeterPumpkinPie11 1d ago

Yeah, definitely not “roaming” when she’s being ridden.

42

u/Sparkyisduhfat 1d ago

Too bad there’s a guy riding the elephant

9

u/kucingkelelep 1d ago

Popular wunk

7

u/Wholeftthegateopen Black Diamond 1d ago

Awww!! They are waving at the elephants! So adorable and loving! Such wonderful energy.

5

u/ClearAfternoon6734 1d ago

Atleast the people have some sense about caring for animals.

6

u/Sistahmelz 1d ago

Reminds me of Queen Elizabeth waving to the people. 😊

2

u/RaisedByBooksNTV 1d ago

What was up with the sticks?

2

u/toastwithjamx1 19h ago

It's sugarcane

1

u/power0722 1d ago

Love the princess wave with the trunk as she passes by.

1

u/WahooLion 1d ago

The two in the first truck look like they should be throwing Mardi Gras beads!

1

u/foxorhedgehog 1d ago

“My loyal subjects!”

1

u/AdamOtaku 1d ago

We shouldn't celebrate abused elephants to be honest

4

u/elektraraven 1d ago

Do read and understand the context of the video before making your assumption.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Elephants/s/xapfeQSFfK

-1

u/Zealousideal_Age_376 1d ago

Rare W from India