The reporter learned from the provincial headquarters of the Asian elephant safety precautions on the evening of August 8 that at 20:08 on the 8th, 14 elephants in the Asian elephant herd of the yunnan north-south migration had crossed the Yuanjiang River, and the next destination was mojiang, mojiang county was located in Pu'er city, and reaching the mojiang meant returning to the elephant habitat. Elephants were monitored in July when they faced bridges and railways with great caution. Even if the forward command adopts the method of temporarily closing the highway and bridge, the phenomenon group does not go near the highway, but detours and probes, wanders, and waits, and finally the elephant quietly crosses the bridge at night, and the whole process is also full of twists and turns.
This is the Kunmo Expressway on July 6, and the highway that should be full of traffic can not see the traffic, only one or two vehicles on duty passing. It turned out that the forward command, through the icons and messages transmitted by the two monitoring groups, learned that the elephant herd was about to pass through here to feed on the mountain, and was worried that the roar of too many vehicles would disturb the elephant herd, so it took a temporary road closure to create conditions for the smooth passage of the elephant herd.
Chen Mingyong, a member of the front expert group and a professor at Yunnan University: At the beginning, when we were monitoring the Sixiao Expressway, it was the same (elephant group) (did not dare to walk under the bridge).
However, the elephant did not take this human affection. Even though the highway had been closed and the bridge was quiet, they still went around the mountain beams, passed the ridge, turned in a big circle, and preferred to walk more than two hours of mountain roads to forage for food, rather than pass under the bridge.
Chen Mingyong, a member of the front expert group and a professor at Yunnan University: When they are confirmed to be safe, it will pass, which is very normal, it is to make full judgment, because sometimes (elephant herd) a mistake in judgment may lead to the destruction of a family, it is always good to be cautious.
On the afternoon of 7 July, the elephant herd continued to move near the Kunmo Expressway, except that this time they were closer to the highway than the day before, only four or five hundred meters. The monitoring team and experts continued to wait here, and the bridge deck once again adopted temporary control and road closure, and everyone quietly hoped that they would pass smoothly. However, the elephant herd once again "broke the contract".
Chen Mingyong, a member of the front expert group and a professor at Yunnan University: (Elephant) It is very smart. From an evolutionary point of view, the bold, hasty few [species] are dangerous. It is that the timid, cautious [species] often live to the end.
This is a scene from the night of July 7. Infrared monitoring footage shows that at 10 p.m. that night, the elephant family began to slowly pass under the bridge, but it was not smooth sailing, and two of the elephants were still walking and stopping, cautious, and dragging their hind legs. Guided by the head elephant, the elephant herd waited patiently for a long time until all the friends gathered, and finally the elephant group, including three cute baby elephants, finally crossed the bridge in the early morning of July 8.
(CCTV reporter Song Jianchun, Jiang Shulin, Li Hui, Zhu Shu, Liu Cheng, Hao Yijie, Yunnan TV)
Source: CCTV News Client