March of the elephants: China's rogue herd spotlights habitat loss
26 June, 2021
A mammoth trek across southern China by a herd of elephants which has captivated the world with their playful antics has thrown a spotlight on the increased loss of their habitat and conservation challenges.
The lumbering mammals have journeyed around 500km from their house in one of the longest animal migrations of its kind recorded in China.
Scientists are still baffled by what prompted the elephants to leave their house at the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, bordering Laos.
Since setting off in spring this past year they have pilfered shops and trampled crops worth over $1 million, and a large number of residents have been evacuated from their path.
"For reasons uknown these elephants felt that their traditional home range was no longer suitable ... and they just left to find somewhere else," Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, an elephant expert at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, told AFP.
"However they didn't have a destination at heart. They are just moving around trying to look for a place which will work for them."
Officials have been tracking the wandering herd with drones round the clock, worried they might embark on a rampage if they're stressed.
China is among the few places on the planet where the population of the endangered Asian elephant is increasing, due to strict anti-poaching laws and conservation efforts AFP/Handout
Elephants count on infrasonic sound - the vibration of their feet - to communicate however in towns they are often easily confused because of vehicle noises.
"What has surprised me the most is these elephants are incredibly healthy and look happy despite roaming in densely populated, unfamiliar areas," Campos-Arceiz said.
"These elephants are extremely playful, which informs me that they are fine," he added.
FOREST DESTRUCTION
Forests in far southwest Yunnan province where in fact the elephants came from are rapidly giving way to rubber and tea plantations, and herds have grown to be marooned in disconnected preserves.
China is among the few places on earth where the population of the endangered Asian elephant is increasing, due to strict anti-poaching laws and conservation efforts.
The country's wild elephant numbers have doubled to over 300 animals in the past three decades.
But their habitats have shrunk by almost two-thirds over the same period, said Zhang Li, a professor of ecology at Beijing Normal University.
Habitat fragmentation - with hydropower plants and highways blocking old migration paths - makes it difficult to acquire mates and socialise.
Electric fences built to safeguard villagers also risk injuring wandering animals.
Forest destruction has resulted in a surge in conflicts between elephants and villagers in the region in recent years.
From 2013 to 2019, a lot more than 70 people have already been trampled to death and dozens injured by marauding elephants in Yunnan, data from the neighborhood wildlife office shows.
MAMMOTH TASK
Scientists are unsure whether a changing landscape was the prompt for the herd's migration, which has made them famous online and drawn international media to check out the march.
Fans have cooed over videos showing a matriarch saving a calf from a gutter and one where elephants fall into line in a courtyard to drink water with one successfully turning on a tap using its trunk.
State TV launched a 24/7 live elephant video stream to check out the movements of the 15 animals, which include two calves born on the road.
But with the elephants showing no sign of returning home or settling down in a fresh place, attempts by wildlife officials to direct them could possibly be risky, experts warn.
Using truckloads of pineapple and sugarcane to bait them could irreversibly domesticate the herd.
"It's like getting a child used to eating sugar," said Wang Hongxin from Beijing Normal University.
During his surveys of elephant habitats in Yunnan, Wang has seen how "elephant canteens" planted with corn, bamboo and wild bananas to dissuade the beasts from pilfering fields have changed their diet, making them more susceptible to disease.
"The existing march spotlights the threats facing Asian elephants," he added, warning conflicts would rise if habitat size is further reduced.
"Humans must retreat and let land go back to the wild."
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