When a new baby elephant named Ruby arrives to live with Stella, Ivan knows that Stella is dying due to a foot injury that was not properly tended to. Stella is unable to perform, and attendance has slowed at the shows.

Stella is an intelligent and kind elephant. She has an excellent memory and enjoys telling stories from her past to her friends because she knows that this is the only variety in their lives.

Stella is an older, wise elephant who remembers much of her old life in the jungle, and knows many stories. Stella and Ivan have a very strong friendship that compels Ivan to make a special promise to her. His other friend, Bob, is a crafty stray dog who stays at the mall, but doesn’t want an actual home.

Ivan is brought to a zoo and introduced to a herd of younger gorillas that come to accept him as their leader. He learns that Ruby is now with an elephant herd at the same place and knows that he has kept his promise to Stella.

Ruby, an African elephant who was moved to a Northern California sanctuary four years ago amid protests over her confinement at the Los Angeles Zoo, has died. She was 50. Ruby died Tuesday at the Performing Animal Welfare Society elephant sanctuary in San Andreas, director Pat Derby said Thursday.

Everyone looks up to Stella, especially Ivan, and not just because of her size. Stella is the go-to gal, advice dispenser, friend, mother, and storyteller. She also never complains. Stella encourages Ivan to look deeper inside himself and explore his past.

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade for 27 years, he’s grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all, until a new animal arrives at the zoo…

Stella believes that good zoos are how humans make amends. When Ruby, a baby elephant, is brought to the Big Top Mall to live with Stella and learn new tricks, things begin to change. Stella’s old injury causes her to get sick.

Ivan tells Ruby a story—which he says is true—about a brave little elephant that gets a new place to live. This new place is called a zoo, and it’s a lot safer than living at the mall. Ruby wants to know how this baby elephant in the story gets to the zoo, and Ivan tells her that a friend makes it happen.

He remembers only a little about his life before captivity and has grown content with his life at the mall. As the story progresses, Ivan determines that his life is not satisfactory and he works to save Ruby and himself by having them both brought to a zoo, where they will spend the rest of their life.

Stella is an old elephant who is one of Ivan ’s closest friends at the Big Top Mall. She lives in the domain next to Ivan’s and performs in the mall’s thrice-daily shows. Ivan describes her as very old, wise, and trustworthy.

The baby’s name is Ruby, and Stella explains to Ivan that Ruby was born in the wild but just came to them from a circus. There, trainers chained all of Ruby’s feet to the floor for 23 hours per day to break her spirit. Ruby proves to be curious and blunt.

He watches television, eats bananas, and makes artwork that is sold by the owner. Along with Ivan, Stella, an elephant, and Bob, a stray dog, live at the mall. Stella is an older elephant who has a chronic injury in one leg and regularly performs in the daily shows.

Stella the African Elephant is one of the deuteragonists of the 2020 Disney + film The One and Only Ivan. She has lived in the circus for years and served as a comfort to all the animals—especially Ivan .