The drama in the elephant yard wasn't apparent to the moms and small children who strolled by to see baby Samson, the African elephant born 15 months ago at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
"Ooh, look! The baby's coming out! That's awesome," they exclaimed.
But just across the heavy metal fences, Samson's keepers were carefully orchestrating an introduction - the first without barriers - between the sometimes rambunctious Samson with his mother, Felix, and the two other adult females in the zoo's herd, Dolly and Anna.
It was the critical climax of months of sniffing and investigating, and keeper-supervised "meet-and-greets" - always across barriers and chains - that began soon after Samson was born in March 2008.
Each incremental step was designed to make the full integration of the newest member into the herd calm and reassuring.
"It's really important for him; this is going to be his family for the rest of his life," said Mike McClure, the zoo's general curator and elephant manager. The zoo has worked for 11 years to assemble a more natural elephant herd. "If we screwed it up, we would wind up with two different elephant populations," and untold added headaches and expense.
Samson was the first elephant born in the 132-year history of the zoo. He weighed in at 290 pounds, and while gaining 1,000 more pounds since then, has become, by all accounts, a healthy and "even-keeled" addition to the collection.
But baby elephants can be aggressive and startling to adults. Mothers can be nervous guardians. And an annoyed or startled adult can be an 8,000-pound hazard to anything or anyone nearby. "Dolly will get afraid of a duck walking into the yard," McClure said. "Small things are very scary for a big elephant."
So it was critical that this stroll in the yard go well. The meeting began with Dolly and Anna relaxing together, munching on hay in the elephant yard, their huge ears flapping rhythmically to cool their bodies in the summer heat.
The gates were opened, and Felix and Samson walked in with their keepers. Separately, the elephants were given some hay to reassure them. "Felix ... was a little excited, but she settled right down," McClure said later.
Then they were all brought together at the center of the yard. The females, including Felix, turned their back ends to the baby, surrounding him in what appeared to be a protective formation.
Soon there was a loud rumble from the circle. Felix immediately swung around and barged in alongside one of the other females to stand beside her baby. McClure said later the rumble, which sounded very adult, was from Samson, "a baby roar, sort of a baby alert call."
He's heard it before when Samson was dissatisfied, but things quickly calmed down.
McClure and his staff had Samson lie down in the dust while Dolly and Anna stood over him, watching and sniffing. "We want to be sure Dolly and Anna are familiar with everything that little fella can do," he said.
In less than an hour it was over. Felix and Samson were led away, Anna began dozing in the yard and Dolly snatched greens from just beyond the fence. McClure seemed pleased. "It's going really well," he said. "It's really, really exciting to see the payoff at the end of a long road."
