Asian elephants are nationally protected wildlife, and Chinese wild elephants have ushered in a "baby boom"

The Asian elephant is the largest extant terrestrial animal in Asia, the flagship species of tropical forest ecosystems, listed as a national priority protected wildlife, and also assessed as an "endangered" species by the IUCN. In China, wild Asian elephants are mainly distributed in xishuangbanna, Pu'er and Lincang prefectures in Yunnan. Monitoring shows that by the end of 2021, the number of wild Asian elephants in Yunnan, China, is about 360, an increase of more than 60 from 293 in the 2018 survey. The data confirms that China's wild elephant population has ushered in a "baby boom" in the past three years.



◆ The data confirms that China's wild elephant population has ushered in a "baby boom" in the past three years. Pictured here is a newborn baby elephant with a female elephant in Jinghong, Yunnan Province, on January 16, 2022. Profile picture

"The two baby elephants born on the way north of the elephant herd have both gained a circle of fat, and this year the elephant herd has given birth to a baby elephant..." said Guo Xianming, an elephant expert. In just over a year, this group of stars in Yunnan has been like 3 times Tim Ding, which surprised and surprised him. Elephant herds entering the peak of fertility are not unique. From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, the employees of Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant Valley monitored and found that there were 6 newborn baby elephants in the 4 elephant herds active in the Wild Elephant Valley; Several elephant herds active in Jiangcheng County, Pu'er City, the number of wild elephants has continued to increase in recent years, and 4 new baby elephants have been added this year... Front-line monitors have reported that wild Asian elephant herds active in Xishuangbanna and Pu'er have had baby elephants born in almost every herd every year in recent years.

Insuring farmland to help reduce "human-elephant conflict"

"Asian elephants are the most pregnant of terrestrial mammals." Guo Xianming, director of the Scientific Research Institute of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan, said that the pregnancy period of elephants is generally 20 to 22 months, usually only one litter per litter, and the young elephants are breastfed from breastfeeding to three or four years old after birth, until the mother elephant becomes pregnant again, so its natural growth rate is not high.

"The continuous strengthening of protection and the reduction of human interference are important reasons for the increase in the birth rate of Asian elephants in China in recent years." Chen Mingyong, a professor at the School of Ecology and Environment of Yunnan University, said that Yunnan has effectively reduced "human-elephant conflicts" by strengthening the protection and restoration of Asian elephant habitats, strengthening the construction of monitoring and early warning, safety precautions and emergency response systems.

In areas where wild elephants operate, villagers are kind and tolerant of wild elephants, despite the potential to destroy crops. The 43-year-old Wang Chuan's family is in the old village of Manke in Kangping Township, Jiangcheng County, and there are currently two groups of 12 wild elephants around the village, including newborn "baby elephants". "When the villagers saw the wild elephant coming, they stayed far away, not disturbing them, and not driving the wild elephant away." Wang Chuan said, "If wild elephants destroy grain and farmland, the insurance bought by the government will pay compensation." ”

The increase in the number of wild elephants of childbearing age is also one of the reasons why wild elephants have ushered in a "baby boom". With the overall upward growth of the Asian elephant population, there are more female and male wild elephants entering the sexual maturity stage, and the population structure is healthy, which is conducive to reproduction.

The feeding time of wild elephants with sufficient food is shortened

China has given full consideration to the Migration Corridor for Asian Elephants in its new infrastructure to avoid poor population communication. At the beginning of the design of the China-Laos Railway, the relevant agencies investigated the distribution of wild elephants and their migration channels, and the route plan avoided the main activity areas of wild elephants. Some roads also provide migration routes for Asian elephants through culverts and bridges.

Asian elephants continue to have an abundance of food sources, and the shortening of feeding cycles and pregnancies has also contributed to the increase in fertility. Chen Mingyong said that the "diet" of Asian elephants has expanded from more than 100 foods in the 1980s to more than 240 kinds today, and they especially prefer nutrient-rich "refined grains" such as corn, rice and sugar cane, which are planted in large areas, concentrated and easy to eat, and the time spent on Asian elephants to feed has been greatly shortened, and there is more time for play, communication and reproduction. Long-term monitoring also found that some wild elephants give birth around 18 months of pregnancy, and the pregnancy period shows a trend of shortening.

Chen Mingyong, Guo Xianming and other interviewed experts believe that under the situation that the total number of Asian elephants in the world tends to decrease, China's wild Asian elephants have ushered in a "baby boom", which is a direct embodiment of the improvement of the regional ecological environment and the continuous improvement of Asian elephant protection, and is a landmark achievement of China's ecological civilization construction and biodiversity conservation.

At the same time, the continuous growth of the number of wild elephants has also brought new tests to the protection and management of Asian elephants and the promotion of harmony between humans and elephants. In this regard, China is planning to build an Asian elephant national park in Yunnan. Chen Mingyong said: "The national park will take more scientific and powerful measures to protect wild elephants and their habitats and promote harmonious coexistence between humans and elephants. ”

Create more habitats for harmonious human-elephant coexistence

China News Service reported that in recent years, due to habitat degradation, more and more wild elephants have left the forest and entered the human activity area, and the space for human and elephant activities has become more and more intense, and the "human-elephant conflict" has become more and more intense. This is not only a challenge faced by many wild elephant distribution countries, but also a microcosm of the conflict between biodiversity conservation and economic and social development experienced by the international community. Chen Fei, director of the Asian Elephant Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, pointed out in a case study of the safe return of elephants from the north and south of the cloud that the most fundamental way to alleviate the "human-elephant conflict" is to create a more suitable habitat for elephants.

Chen Fei said that in recent years, the awareness of human protection of Asian elephants has gradually strengthened, and Asian elephants have begun to no longer fear humans, and more and more frequently go out of the reserve to eat crops. Abroad, elephants are mainly driven away from farmland and human settlements by biological, physical or chemical deterrents such as bees, peppers and tobacco, but in many cases drastic and confrontational measures have intensified their aggressiveness. In addition, other countries defend themselves by changing the way they cultivate, that is, by planting crops that elephants don't like. But overall, there is no better way in the world to avoid "human-elephant conflict" altogether.

Explore the construction of national parks to attract elephants back into the forest

"Through the successful cases of Yunnan elephant herds returning from north to south, we have found that increasing tolerance for elephants and taking some flexible interventions such as food lures and pulsed electric fences are effective ways to alleviate 'human-elephant conflict'." But this undoubtedly requires a lot of human, material and financial resources, and it is not a long-term solution. Chen Fei pointed out that the most fundamental way to alleviate the "human-elephant conflict" is to create a more suitable habitat for elephants, in addition to the necessary conditions such as area and forest quality, it is also necessary to consider the huge food demand and population activity range of elephants, carry out relevant habitat transformation and construction work, and build ecological corridors for habitat connectivity. At present, China is exploring the construction of national parks to further restore the Habitat of Asian Elephants.

Internationally renowned elephant expert and researcher of the Large Mammal Diversity and Conservation Research Group of xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, said that compared with traditional nature reserves, Asian elephant national parks will involve many human-related elements, integrate more resources, and manage more systematically. The United States created the world's first national park, but most of its area is no man's land, and human activity in the park is very small. The Asian Elephant National Park created by China will create a new model to accumulate more experience for better resolving "human-elephant conflicts" and even dealing with the relationship between man and nature.

Chen Fei pointed out that the planning and construction of China's national parks emphasize the combination of ecological protection and community development. There are many Chinese, and some of the indigenous people in the national park gather in the form of administrative villages, more are irregularly distributed in the natural villages in the national park, and some nomadic herders have "winter nests" or temporary tents for summer pastures, showing the characteristics of "large dispersion and small concentration". In view of this characteristic, China pays more attention to the construction of communities and people's livelihood in the process of national park construction and protection, scientific planning, rational zoning, the implementation of differentiated policies and management measures, and the community residents as co-construction partners, so as to achieve the win-win goal of "ecological beauty and people's prosperity".

The Asian Elephant National Park, which is being planned and constructed, has also achieved some innovations in the protection of Asian elephants, such as retaining part of the agricultural land where Asian elephants are concentrated, creating corresponding planting compensation mechanisms to supplement the food sources of Asian elephants, attracting elephants to return to forests, stabilizing habitats, alleviating "human-elephant conflicts", and achieving harmonious coexistence between humans and elephants.