In the spring of 2021, the photos of the "super cute sleeping posture" of the elephants that warmed the world were swiped on social networks, triggering a boom in national image viewing, and also making this group of "runaway" elephants attract the attention of the world and become "international Internet celebrities".
They are a herd of wild Asian elephants from Yunnan, China, because there is a "short-nosed sister" with a nose that is shorter than its peers, so the family is named "Short-nosed Family". After more than ten years of growth and reproduction, the short-nosed family has become larger and larger.
But people could not understand for a moment why these more than a dozen wild Asian elephants suddenly migrated north that spring. How did the longest elephant exodus in the more than 60 years since the establishment of Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve happen?
"Family Trip" that goes away
The Wild Elephant Valley, located in the Xishuangbanna Mengyangzi Conservation Area, is an important gathering place for Asian elephants during the dry season. They often stay from December of the previous year until April of the following year.
However, since 2019, as rainfall has decreased, the Wild Elephant Valley has also experienced unprecedented drought.
Member of the Asian Elephant Expert Committee of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yunnan Province
Director of the Institute of Ecology of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province
Shen Qingzhong
2019 was the driest year on record in Xishuangbanna, with Jinghong receiving just over a third of the usual rainfall. The river next to the Wild Elephant Valley was cut off after the Spring Festival in February, which was unprecedented in history.
Thousands of years of agrarian civilization have made Asian elephants adapt, and they constantly go to the farmland to feed, which is easy and hassle-free.
Asian elephants eat about 16 hours a day, adult elephants eat hundreds of pounds of plants every day, compared to the bamboo shoots, young leaves, wild plantains and other foods they usually eat, human cultivation of rice, corn, sugar cane, etc. can provide higher calories, greatly reducing the time they spend on eating.
Member of the Asian Elephant Expert Committee of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yunnan Province
Director of the Institute of Ecology of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province
Shen Qingzhong
Before it was sneaky out to eat, it was also afraid of people. Now it's not afraid at all. Our awareness of the protection of the ecological environment has increased, and no one has harmed it, which is one of the most important factors for it to be able to get out.
Climate change and pressing resources for survival have prompted them to look farther afield.
In early March 2020, a total of 15 Asian elephants from the New Short-nosed Family, consisting of Short-nosed Sister, Blue-Eyed and other elephants in the Wild Elephant Valley, left the Wild Elephant Valley early. They traveled all the way north in search of a new place to stay.
A world-renowned wild Asian elephant "reality show" has officially begun!
First walk through a human city
After arriving in Pu'er from Xishuangbanna, the short-nosed family still did not stop. In fact, there is no suitable habitat for them further north of Pu'er, and the population is becoming more and more dense, and the short-nosed family and their party have to speed up their pace.
In May 2021, the Short-nosed Family entered Asan County, Yuxi City, marking their first crossing of a human city.
Member of the Asian Elephant Expert Committee of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yunnan Province
Director of the Institute of Ecology of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province
Shen Qingzhong
After arriving in Asan, the situation was more serious. (Elephants) go to densely populated areas, have not eaten for a day, safety control cannot be done, and the hidden dangers of human-elephant conflict are very large.
Director of Walking with Elephants
Chen Yizhi
It is actually very sensitive to the senses, and it will treat you as a threat and even attack you. When they come, they find your camera for the first time, they will take your camera apart and play with it, it will throw it and even step on it, and finally many of our infrared cameras will die.
This is the first time an Asian elephant has reached such a northern location. Since this day, the Forest Fire Brigade of Yunnan Province, China, has shouldered the task of searching and monitoring Asian elephants in real time, escorting all the way.
Director of Walking with Elephants
Chen Yizhi
In fact, this group of elephants sent three reconnaissance elephants at that time to investigate how to cross the road of Asan County. After confirming safety, the large troops quickly passed through the county seat of Asan County.
This is actually the shortest distance between the two mountains, and they think that it can pass through the county town most quickly, so they are actually very organized and planned.
Yunnan Provincial Forest Fire Brigade
Leader of the Wild Asian Elephant Search and Monitoring Team
Yang Xiangyu
The first time we saw it, we held our breath, but in fact, after contact, because we learned that this herd of elephants is a docile and united family, in fact, we will be more relaxed when we meet it a few times later.
Yunnan Provincial Forest Fire Brigade
Leader of the Publicity Team of the Wild Asian Elephant Search and Monitoring Detachment
Chen Shengyao
Although it is said to be more than three meters high and weighs several tons, it is not often in our field of vision, and it is difficult to find when we look for elephants, but we can now use high-tech equipment to find it and monitor it.
Firefighters monitoring Asian elephants have found that as elephants move north, villages are growing, and they are changing. The short-armed family began to develop a habit from Asan: eating and drinking, sleeping, fighting, and nibbling on tree bark during the day, and then going down the mountain to eat at night.
Member of the Asian Elephant Expert Committee of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Yunnan Province
Professor, School of Ecology and Environment, Yunnan University
Chen Mingyong
In recent years, with the protection of Asian elephants by the state, illegal poaching has been cracked down on, and the transformation and restoration of nature reserves has been carried out. The population of Asian elephants is constantly growing, but after the population grows, under the conditions of limited protected areas and habitats, many elephant populations are also migrating and spreading, presenting some new problems and challenges.
Finally, humanity has spent a thrilling night, but these big men who have rushed into human life still show no sign of turning back.
More than a year after their departure, the Short-nosed Family had two sub-adult elephants left the team on the journey, and they also welcomed two new members. The short-nosed sister's sister, Blue Eyes, and another female elephant in the family gave birth, and the two little ones became the darlings of the Short-nosed family.
Like a tourist tour, they look at this strange and novel world all the way, but the human village is not their real home after all, and one night on the way, the elephant suddenly begins to roar, and the sound echoes throughout the valley.
Several elephants fell into the villagers' pool, and the baby elephant gradually became physically weak, with only its nostrils exposed to the water. When exactly should humans intervene? How can we help wild Asian elephants to convey our kindness?
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Editor: Wang Dingyao