Elephants live happily with man in Yunnan, their homeland

Can you still remember elephants of the nose-broken family that lived in south Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna but had a sensational northbound tour last year?

Do you know the returned elephant family have already got a new member one year later?

Recently, we visited Xishuangbanna, looking into the land where man and elephants coexist in harmony!

 

The Wild Elephant Valley 

Protecting elephants with care

Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture is dubbed as a "museum of forest ecology".

With the only existing rainforest on the Tropic of Cancer, Xishuangbanna houses 756 species of protected wild animals, accounting for 25 percent of the national total. It has the largest population of wild Asian elephant in China, providing home to the rare Indian bison and Indo-Chinese tigers.

Xishuangbanna has made 20 plus laws, rules and regulations for local ecological protection.

 

A staffer with forestry department briefs on local effort in eco-protection.

While protecting local eco-environment, the prefecture also rescued wild animals in trouble, such as Asian elephants.

In 2008, China's first Asian elephant breeding center was established in the Wild Elephant Valley of Xishuangbanna, involving elephant barn and mating room, as well as rooms for baby delivery, quarantine and medicare.

So far, the center has saved 9 Asian elephants, among which Ranran was rescued from injury in 2005 and gave birth to a healthy baby elephant in September 2019.

An "elephant daddy" tells the story on a rescued baby elephant.

Man-elephant coexistence

Data showed the elephant population in Xishuangbanna increased from 150 in the 1980s to 300 at present.

To compensate the crops damaged by elephants and prevent human-elephant conflicts, the prefecture has explored new ways for man and elephants to live in harmony.

Starting in 2010, Xishuangbanna has kept designating 14.71 million yuan annually for crop compensation and conflict prevention.

In 2018, the prefecture began its elephant monitoring and warning services in its counties of Menghai and others.

"Practice has shown that by building a harmonious home for man and elephants, the giants could be better protected, while local people could live in peace and contentment." Dao Jianhong, deputy director of Xishuangbanna Forestry and Grass Bureau, said.

Source: Yunnan Daily; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue