The return of the elephants: How two groups of dispersing elephants attracted the attention of billions and what can we learn from their behavior

Ahimsa Campos‐Arceiz,J Antonio De La Torre,Shu Chen,Xiaoyu O Wu,Yufei Zhu,Yang Bai,Richard T Corlett,Ke Wei,Mingxu Zhao,Fei Chen

doi:10.1111/conl.12836

Abstract

The return of the elephants: How two groups of dispersing elephants attracted the attention of billions and what can we learn from their behavior

Highlights

In May–June 2021, wild Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, in Southwest China made global headlines when a herd of 15 trekked north toward the 8-million-person city of Kunming, while another herd of similar size moved south into a popular botanical garden. Both herds used to live in the Mengyang section of the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, from which both departed in March 2020, moving into areas with no living memory of elephants
Conservation policies have resulted in increasing elephant numbers and canopy cover in Mengyang, which has led to enhanced intraspecific competition for declining elephant forage as preferred food plants are shaded out
The movement of the Kunming herd was exceptional because of its scale (300 km in a straight line) and because the elephants moved into densely populated areas

Summary

Introduction

In May–June 2021, wild Asian elephants, Elephas maximus, in Southwest China made global headlines when a herd of 15 trekked north toward the 8-million-person city of Kunming, while another herd of similar size moved south into a popular botanical garden. Both herds used to live in the Mengyang section of the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve (hereafter Mengyang; 22.2oN, 100.9oE), from which both departed in March 2020, moving into areas with no living memory of elephants. 2 CURRENT CONTEXT OF ELEPHANT CONSERVATION IN CHINA

Results

Conclusion