Zhang Xiong, the leader of the UAV flight A team of the Wild Asian Elephant Search and Monitoring Detachment of the Yunnan Provincial Forest Fire Brigade, became popular on the Internet because of a "warm photo" accidentally taken during the monitoring. After more than 90 days of chasing elephants, Zhang Xiong and his comrades-in-arms were on fire because of "elephants", and were called "the most beautiful elephant chasing group on the whole network" by netizens.
This "warm photo" is a picture of the "short-nosed family" wild elephants sleeping in the bushes, and many people learned for the first time through this photo that Asian elephants are sleeping lying down, which has also aroused the attention of the global media. So, how was this photo recorded?
How do Asian elephants sleep? They lie collectively on their sides in the grass in the bushes, the fluffy hay is very soft, the elephant surrounds the baby elephant in the middle, and the baby elephant also snuggles tightly with the mother, and the recorder of this photo is Zhang Xiong. On the morning of June 7, in Sunset Township, Jinning District, Kunming City, a routine monitoring and early warning allowed him to witness this warm scene.
At 9 a.m. on June 7, during the shift, Zhang Xiong and his colleagues needed to lock in the location of the elephant herd again, and when the drone rose into the air, through the sparse woods, he unexpectedly observed the elephant group leaning on each other, sleeping on their feet.
Zhang Xiong was one of the first monitoring team members to join the elephant chasing regiment, and in the more than 70 days of chasing elephants, he never stopped chasing elephants. At the end of the fire prevention period, he was supposed to take a vacation to spend his honeymoon with his wife, and when he heard that he wanted to search for and monitor wild Asian elephants, he was the first to sign up to the organization to join the elephant chasing group. What kind of belief made Zhang Xiong make this choice?
"Because of the relationship with elephants, elephants guard baby elephants, and forest firefighters guard elephant herds." Zhang Xiong said so. In the wild Asian elephant monitoring and flying frontline, as long as they are not afraid of suffering and tiredness, and regard the safety of the elephant herd and the people as a responsibility and mission, everyone can do a new world. Since April 16, the elephant herd has been "elephant" all the way north and returned home from the south, and for more than 90 consecutive days of monitoring and warning, Zhang Xiong has followed the Asian elephant out of the night. Observing and guarding the elephant made him have a special affection for the elephant.
Drones are equivalent to human eyes, eyes full of many nerves, monitoring wild Asian elephants are connecting elephants with people's poetry and far away, there are beautiful other shore flowers, there are hardships and hardships. As the leader of the wild Asian elephant search and monitoring team A, Zhang Xiong's daily work is to receive tasks, take the lead when there are difficulties, and report on the situation in a timely manner. "In the hardest times, I sleep 4 hours a day, sometimes running dozens of kilometers deep in the mountains with the elephant herd." Zhang Xiong said.
"The task of searching and monitoring wild Asian elephants is not only a technical task, but also very dangerous, can you do it?" On May 27, just after entering the monitoring site of wild Asian elephants in Asan County, Yuxi City, someone looked at Zhang Xiong, who was dark and solid, and was worried that he would not be able to adapt. Zhang Xiong only said one word: "Look at me." At that time, the monitoring team carried drones such as Yuandu 3VS, Longitude and Latitude M300, and Yu 2, the most expensive hundreds of thousands, and the cheap ones were more than 20,000. On the first day, the task of monitoring and flying was handed over to Zhang Xiong. "The first time I try, can I finish it?" Zhang Xiong played the drum in his heart.
"You're the backbone of communications, you have an advantage, don't worry." The words of Yang Xiangyu, the leader of the monitoring detachment, gave him great encouragement. During the monitoring and flight, Zhang Xiong studied hard, studied diligently, encountered problems that he did not understand, first groped for himself, Baidu inquired about information, and sometimes went to the headquarters to consult experts. Experiencing the shock of the first time shooting the elephant herds dangling through the street, the first time the torment of the lost elephants in the deep mountains and dense forests, the excitement of the first time the phenomenon grouping through the village, the first time capturing the joy of the elephants lining up to sleep... Zhang Xiong found that the elephant herd has its own division of labor, the female elephant is the leader, the male elephant is the guard, the sub-adult elephant is a "greedy elephant" who steals food and drink, the juvenile elephant likes to fight, and the baby elephant likes to sell cuteness. When looking for food and choosing a route, they will first investigate and then act, protecting the baby elephants at all times and trying to avoid crowded areas.
Grow in monitoring tasks and hone in operational flights. Zhang Xiong believes that the search and monitoring task of wild Asian elephants is not simply to see where the elephant herd is, but to observe the distance between the elephant herd and the people at all times, prevent the conflict between the elephant and the people, and better protect the safety of the elephant herd and the people; at the same time, the whole process of recording the elephant herd activities provides data for scientific research. Once the elephant herd went into the deep mountains and dense forest on a rainy night, the forest stretched for more than 10 kilometers, and there were also villages around it, and the three-dimensional search of the ground and air was unsuccessful. Zhang Xiong suggested that the command headquarters to enable the SV2 long-range UAV with a long endurance time and a monitoring radius of 30 kilometers for search, the suggestion was quickly adopted by the command, Zhang Xiong started the SV2 long-range inorganic man, drew a good flight trajectory, took off to look for it over the dense forest, flew back and forth for 3 rounds, the phenomenon group seemed to be at the edge of a pool, but it was a little uncertain, so Zhang Xiong flew the drone back, copied the video on the computer repeatedly, and finally determined that it was the elephant herd, and for a time the monitoring team members and the command staff clapped their hands and applauded.
"Elephants are cute and mischievous." Zhang Xiong said that along the way, more than 200 times followed the elephant herd to the field, over the mountains and mountains, sometimes the elephants raised their noses to greet our drones, sometimes the baby elephants carried water pipes to help the villagers water crops, sometimes the two baby elephants bathed and fought, sometimes interacted with dogs, chickens, goats, and sometimes stole the villagers' bananas, sugar cane, corn and other crops. Zhang Xiong not only monitors the first-class flight, but also has a good understanding of the habits of wild Asian elephants. As long as there are new team members to join, the command will let Zhang Xiong help and teach. Today, more than 20 wild Asian elephant monitors have been trained for the monitoring team and the Kunming Aerial Survey Center.
"Elephants are good friends of humans, we live together in the global village, as long as you smile at it, it will smile at you." 」 Zhang Xiong believes that the northward movement of elephant herds has attracted much attention at home and abroad, and is a major event in the field of ecological civilization and biodiversity conservation. As a forest firefighter, in addition to guarding the safety of the elephant group and the masses, I feel extremely proud and honored to be able to show the colorful Yunnan and the colorful and beautiful China to the world. (China Daily Yunnan Reporter Station)