Author 丨 Li Pengliang Editor 丨 Lu Yi
After 17 months of travel and 1,300 kilometers of hiking, the elephant herd "Broken Nose Family" from the border city of Xishuangbanna finally returned home. But experts pointed out that it is "certain" that the elephant herd will go north again in the future, causing concern.
For more than a year, the elephants, under people's attention, have entered the city, gone to the countryside, stepped on farmland, and rolled across the road. Some gave birth to baby elephants in the middle of the way, some "ran away from home" have not yet returned, some "happy not to think", nostalgic for artificial feeding of elephant food and do not want to leave, and two ends because of stealing the farmer's wine, drunk left behind, can only go home on their own.
For the first time, it was known that elephants were a bit picky eaters, more likely to nibble on corn than bananas and pineapples; they were very intelligent, with an IQ equivalent to that of a 6-8-year-old child who could unscrew the faucet on their own with their proboscis; they were large, but their courage was small, and they were sensitive to sound and light.
However, behind these cute personalities and behaviors, there is also a huge destructive force. They caused more than 1,500 accidents, caused 5.1252 million economic losses, and more than 150,000 people were forced to transfer, and the work of determining loss claims has not yet been completed. In order to prevent human-elephant conflict, as of the 8th, Yunnan Province has also dispatched more than 25,000 police and staff, 973 drones, 15,000 emergency vehicles, and nearly 180 tons of elephant food, which has paid more manpower and economic costs.
In the face of increasingly frequent human-elephant conflicts, we have reviewed this elephant "North Drift Journey", which may serve as a sample to provide a reference answer to the question of how to calmly respond to the migration of target groups in the future.
On August 8, the "Broken Nose" family crossed the Yuanjiang Bridge and embarked on the way home.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="71" > thousands of accidents, millions of losses, and the huge destructive power under the cute appearance of wild elephants</h1>
This long "north drift" of elephants began in March 2020. 16 wild elephants, with their families and mouths, set off from the Xishuangbanna Meng foster child reserve and went all the way north, breaking into 8 counties and cities such as Yuxi, Honghe and Kunming. Especially at 21:55 on June 2, 2021, the elephant herd officially entered the Jinning District of Kunming City, which was the first time that The Asian wild elephants in China entered the areas outside Xishuangbanna, Lincang and Pu'er, which aroused the curiosity and onlookers of netizens at home and abroad.
In Yunnan, elephants are not unusual, but "no-destination trips" like this one are rare.
Recalling the moment when wild elephants broke into their own lives, Guo Zhuguang, a native of Yunnan, still has palpitations in his heart.
He was originally curious about elephants, because the local area had "not appeared in 180 years". But when the elephant herd actually visited his yard, he was left with fear.
On the afternoon of May 29, 2021, the "Broken Nose Family" passed near Dashuichong Village in Damiluo Community of Yuxi City, stepped on several vegetable fields, and entered the mountainous area. At this time, the villagers, like Guo Zhuguang, are full of curiosity about elephants, because this may be the first time they have observed elephants up close in the wild environment.
"Don't go out to watch, hide on the second floor of your home." In contrast, Shi Jiayun, director of the Great Miluo Community Supervision Committee, was even more nervous, and he began to organize villagers to hide under the notice of the on-site command. Public security special police also went to Dashuichong Village to prepare, and large vehicles were placed at the main intersections, just in case. But at the time, the villagers still felt that the move was "fussy and unnecessary", and they thought that the elephants "couldn't come here" at all.
But prevention has proved to be extremely necessary.
Villagers in Dashuichong Village photographed the elephant herds visiting. (Source respondents)
At about 1:00 a.m. on the 30th, the elephant herd went and returned. Guo Zhuguang was awakened by the noise, and through the window, he saw that the elephants were already eating corn in their yard. "I'm done." He was so frightened that he and his wife climbed to the roof to hide.
Shi Jiayun, who lives next door to Guo Zhuguang, was also on the roof of his home and witnessed the elephant entering the village.
Seven elephants, three by three, in pairs, slowly paced the streets, the village was quiet, only the barking of dogs was far away. While filming the video, Shi Jiayun whispered to his family: "The elephant herd has come." ”
Shi Jiayun recalled that as soon as the elephants entered the village, they went straight to Guo Zhuguang's house, "His gate, the tin door, stepped on it and came in." He speculated that this might be because the Guo family had stored about 400 kilograms of corn and two bags of cornmeal, and the elephants came over when they smelled it.
There were about five or six elephants entering the Guo family, and they ate about 200 kilograms of corn, and the rest could not be rolled up, and they were all over the ground. Two other chickens died, suspected to have been trampled to death by elephants.
Watching the yard next door being stirred up and hearing the elephant's cry so loud that the whole village could hear it, Shi Jiayun no longer had the original curiosity, only felt that the elephant was so scary.
Guo Zhuguang's family is a wooden house, can't bear the elephant toss, he wanted to hide on the roof of Shi Jiayun's house, asked Shi Jiayun to carry a ladder to pick himself up. But Shi Jiayun did not dare to act, "There are elephants below, how do I lift the ladder?" Don't be loud, just stand quietly. ”
After more than half an hour, the elephants finally left and returned to the mountains one after another. Guo Zhuguang did not dare to sleep again, and moved with his family to the second brother's house, who lived in a brick and tile house, and the family stayed until dawn.
Shi Jiayun quickly recovered from the fright, "I'm not afraid, I feel as if I've just passed through here, like my own glory." Not from anywhere else, from our village, so strange! ”
Elephants have the meaning of auspiciousness since ancient times, and they are often a stable and gentle appearance on the screen, so many people mistakenly regard the elephant herd as a harmless little cuteness of humans and animals, but for humans, Asian elephants are actually very dangerous.
Adult Asian elephants can reach 5–6 m long and weigh 3–5 tonnes. Under the blessing of such size and weight, everything in human life seems fragile. Farmland will be flattened, iron gates can be easily knocked open, and ordinary small vehicles will not hinder the pace of the elephant herd, but will be reduced to the toy of the baby elephant, and only a large muck truck can barely stop it, so that the elephant herd can change direction.
Herds of elephants walk on the village road. (Source respondents)
According to public information, the wildlife public liability insurance contracting company accepted a total of 1,501 cases of Asian elephant accident loss declarations, and assessed the loss of 5.1252 million yuan. As of press time, 939 claims have been settled, and the insurance premium has been paid of 2.1648 million yuan.
There are many more losses that are not covered. According to the statistics of "Yunnan Release", from April 16 to May 27 alone, elephant herds caused 412 accidents in Yuanjiang County and Shiping County, directly destroying 842 mu of crops, and the preliminary estimate of direct economic losses was nearly 6.8 million yuan. Wherever the elephants went, the lives of the local people were often forced to stop, they could not go out to work, they could not go up the mountain to pick, and just in case, they had to take shelter on the second floor.
In addition to the "broken nose" that entered Kunming, there is another elephant herd in the Mengyangzi Conservation Area of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve. The 17 wild elephants did not go north, but went south into the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and stayed in the park for many days, which not only caused damage to the crop protection and breeding base, but also threatened more than 1,350 rare and endangered plants preserved in the park.
Fortunately, the elephant migration did not cause casualties, but according to the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, in 2017, 2019 and 2020, 4, 12 and 7 people died in human-elephant contact.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="70" > from collective anesthesia to food induction, how difficult it is to help elephants get home</h1>
Some people say that the elephant herd is like "dragging the family and wandering around", there is no romance, only bitterness. This seems to resonate with many "North Drifters", hoping that they will find a suitable habitat as soon as possible, or get lost.
Because the elephant herd travels hundreds of kilometers and has more and more contact with humans, the potential risk is getting bigger and bigger, and yunnan is also fighting hard to help the elephants go home.
But in the face of 15 large Asian elephants, proper placement is not an easy task.
Earlier, the wild Siberian tiger "Wandashan No. 1" broke into a village in Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, and the relevant departments implemented anesthesia control on it and released it back to the mountain forest, and the incident was successfully resolved. But this method is not suitable for Asian elephant herds.
On the evening of May 27, the elephant herd entered the county seat of Asan County.
Zhang Li, a professor at Beijing Normal University and deputy secretary-general of the Zoological Society of China, pointed out that anesthesia is effective for individuals, and there are relatively complete methods for dosage and timing. But Asian elephant communities behave strongly, "if you simply anesthetize one elephant, the other individuals will come and protect the members of the group." If people go away and so on, it is likely to provoke them. It is more likely to lead to retaliatory attacks by elephant herds, intensifying human-elephant conflict. ”
Zhang Li told reporters that some conservation organizations in Southeast Asia have also tried to transport and transfer family groups of elephants, but there have been elephant deaths. In the face of 15 wild elephants, the use of anesthesia method requires more caution.
He believes that the elephant herd itself has traveled hundreds of kilometers and can carry out some artificial interference and induction. At the same time, suitable habitat research is needed, such as large areas of forest nearby, which can guide the elephant herd to the corresponding habitat. If the elephant herds go to large and densely populated areas, they need to be protected through engineering measures and artificial methods to avoid threatening the safety of people's lives and property.
These are also the main methods adopted in Yunnan, that is, on the one hand, 24-hour monitoring of the movement of elephants, early warning of possible invasion of the settlement area, on the other hand, through food lures, road closures by muck trucks, dynamic alarms, etc., to gently guide the elephants to change their direction of travel and avoid going to densely populated areas.
However, on the way to guide the elephant herd to "go home", the initial artificial correction did not work. Until the evening of May 31, 2021, on the route home for the elephants, people laid corn, bananas, pineapples and other foods that they had eaten, and blocked the road to the city and countryside, and finally attracted hungry elephants for a few days, achieving the first successful induction.
Chen Mingyong, a professor at the School of Ecology and Environment of Yunnan University and the head of the Asian Elephant Research Center of Yunnan University, also told the media that the successful induction may have a certain degree of chance, "Elephants are animals after all, and the artificial plan has great uncertainty." ”
It is reported that the Red River is the dividing line between suitable habitats and general habitats for Asian elephants, and it is also a natural barrier on the way back to the south of the elephant herd. In this regard, Yunnan tried to take advantage of weather conditions such as rainfall and cooling, combined with feeding guidance, to help the northward migrating Asian elephants gradually return to suitable habitats.
Before the elephant herd entered the territory of Yuanjiang County, the command headquarters organized on-the-spot investigation by various experts to help the elephant herd choose a suitable river crossing point, and selected three routes in the east, middle, and west. During this period, 2844 vehicles were put into operation, 6673 people were manpowered, and regional power outages were implemented for two consecutive days, traffic control was implemented on some highway sections, and a number of muck trucks were blocked on both sides of the river to help guide the elephants to move to the designated river crossing point.
After 13 days and countless shifts, on the evening of August 8, the elephant herd finally slowly crossed the Yuanjiang Bridge in Yuxi City, crossed the Red River, and returned to the south bank of the habitat.
In this regard, Shen Qingzhong, a member of the expert group of the northward migration Asian elephant population and a senior engineer of the Management and Conservation Bureau of the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan, said at the relevant press conference that it is best for the elephant herd to eventually return to the Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve where it originally inhabited, and if not, the local government will rely on the early warning and prevention system established in the original habitat to do a good job in the continuous tracking and monitoring of the elephant herd to ensure the free activity of the elephant herd in the appropriate area.
In addition, Pu'er City and Xishuangbanna Prefecture are also organizing the implementation of habitat restoration and safety engineering construction plans to provide comfortable habitat space and safe migration channels for elephants as much as possible.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="52" > after returning home, experts say the next time the elephant will definitely go north</h1>
There is a lot of speculation that Asian elephants make such long, widespread migrations involving human settlements, which is rare even internationally.
Some people believe that a magnetic storm caused by an abnormal solar activity accidentally stimulated the migration instinct engraved in the genes of the elephant population, causing the elephant group to flee and drift. It is also believed that elephants got lost on their migration and mistook the north for the south, leading to further and further travel. Others believe that elephants have been forced to leave their homes to expand their range of activities because of the severe destruction of their habitat and the loss of food.
Zhang Li is similar to the third view, he believes that this "exodus" of elephant herds is a normal process of population dispersion and the search for more suitable habitats. The more unexpected thing is that I didn't expect to go so far.
The reason for the spread of the population, Zhang Li believes that there are two main reasons.
First, because the protection effect has improved in recent years, poaching and other behaviors that harm the population have been eliminated, the population size of wild elephants has increased steadily, and more and more elephants have been increased.
At the same time, however, the habitat area of the elephant herd is shrinking. Zhang Li pointed out that the area of suitable habitat for Asian elephants has decreased by 40% in the past 20 years, and many of the woodlands outside the reserve have been logged to grow cash crops such as rubber and tea, resulting in further habitat loss and fragmentation.
Under this circumstance, the survival pressure of the elephant herd becomes greater, resulting in the continuous expansion of the population outward.
"[Asian elephant population proliferation] has been happening from the late '90s to the last decade or so." Zhang Li told Phoenix Weekly that in the past 10 years, six or seven groups of elephants have spread from Xishuangbanna to Pu'er in the north. Among them, a herd of 18 elephants went east to Pu'er and back to Mengtan in Xishuangbanna, where they settled.
Professor Wang Hongxin of the Institute of Global Co-development of Beijing Normal University also wrote that in the past 40 years, the land use mode and planting structure of Asian elephant distribution areas have undergone tremendous changes.
Between 1975 and 2014, the area of natural forests in the Asian elephant distribution area decreased from 69.31% to 57.81%, the rubber forest expanded by 23.4 times, accounting for 0.52% to 12.71% in the Asian elephant distribution area, and the tea garden area increased by 2.5 times, from 8.77% to 22.01%. Rapidly expanding agriculture has led to a sharp decline in suitable habitats for Asian elephants, such as shrubs, flat valleys covered by mixed bamboo-broad forests, and foothills below 1,000 m above sea level, and is now less than 1/3 of what it was in 1975.
The Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade photographed the elephants huddled together and rested. (Source Yunnan Forest Fire Protection)
At the same time, various infrastructure projects have fragmented the original contiguous Asian elephant habitat, resulting in serious habitat fragmentation and islandization. Wang Hongxin pointed out that 62.4% of Asian elephants have been forced out of protected areas and have been "wandering" for a long time.
Zhang Li believes that through the method of ecological compensation, funds can be raised to restore and rebuild the Habitat of Asian Elephants, and then connect the broken habitats through the construction of ecological corridor belts.
At the same time, the establishment of national parks is also an opportunity to improve the protection of Asian elephants. National parks are areas that have been set up as protected areas for the long-term protection of natural wilderness landscapes, original flora and fauna, and special ecosystems. Compared with the existing nature reserve mechanism, the protection of the ecological environment and organisms is more comprehensive. In 2015, China launched the pilot construction of the national park system, and the first batch of national parks will be officially established this year.
However, the problem of human activities constantly eroding elephant habitat is difficult to improve in the short term, will elephants still go north in the future? Shen Qingzhong's answer was yes.
He explained that Asian elephant migration is a normal behavior that helps wild elephants find new habitats and carry out genetic exchange between populations. Elephants are intellectually highly intelligent, adaptable, able to remember migration routes, and experience in climbing mountains, bridges, or using artificial facilities each time may be accumulated and passed on. Therefore, in the future, Asian elephants may still have large-scale migration events, which may still be "broken nose families", or other ethnic groups or unique elephants.
However, he believes that after this incident, various localities have formed a working mechanism for Asian elephant safety precautions and emergency response, and even if there is another elephant herd moving north, it can be calmly dealt with.
The staff of xishuangbanna tropical botanical garden aerialally photographed elephants walking through the forest. (Source Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden)
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