Herd of wild elephants roaming free in China continues to wreak havoc, misleading experts

A herd of wild Asian elephants rested on Monday in a local forest in the city of Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, en route north.

The group began to rest around 7:00 a.m. local time when they slowly lay down on the ground, said Chen Shengyao, a staff member who watches the elephant herd at the Yunnan Forest Fire Brigade.

Chen said it was the the first time they have seen all the elephants in the herd lie down to sleep together in the 12 days since they started monitoring the herd. Before this collective rest, there were always three or four elephants sleeping while three or four other elephants stood guard nearby.

In order not to wake or disturb them, Chen said the surveillance team will adjust the drone to the bag’s maximum height of 350 meters whenever they take a rest.

According to experts, elephants usually cannot lie down for long due to their heavy weight, in order to prevent their internal organs from having pressure problems.

One male elephant in the 15 wild elephants left the herd on Sunday and ended up in a forest on Monday, about 4 kilometers as the crow flies northeast of the herd, according to a site command that tracks elephants.

In March last year, 16 elephants from the herd left their nature reserve in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. In November 2020, the herd arrived in Mojiang County, Pu’er City, where one of the elephants gave birth to a calf. On April 16 this year, the 17 elephants entered Yuanjiang County in Yuxi City. A week later, two of the elephants separated from the herd and returned to Mojiang County. The others continued their journey north.

These elephants they traveled about 500 km from their forest house before arriving in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, on Wednesday evening.

After the elephant herd left the reserve, local authorities began a The 24-hour surveillance system, mobilizing some 410 people and 120 vehicles, flew 14 drones to follow and escort the herd and ensure the safety of the animals. The local authorities also fed them two tons of food, while evacuating residents and vehicles to make room for the herd on the way.

Asian elephants are under first-class state protection in China, where they are mainly found in Yunnan. With better protection, the wild elephant population in the province has grown to around 300, up from 193 in the 1980s.

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