When will the North migration elephant group "go home"? Expert: About Winter

The North migration group and the unixiang continue to be circuitous in a small range

The activity of the elephant in sunset village, Jinning District, Kunming

On June 13, Chuncheng Evening News - Kaiping news reporter learned from the provincial headquarters of Yunnan Province for security and prevention of Asian elephant group moving to the north. From 17:30 on June 12 to 18:00 on June 13, the elephant group continued to detour in Shijie Township, Yimen County, Yuxi City.

It is located in the northeast of the elephant group. It continues to move in Xiyang Township, Jinning District, Kunming City, about 16 kilometers away. People are like peace.

The monitoring shows that the image group of the Xiangqun at 19:25 on June 12 was eating from the southwest of Nanshan, Shijie Township, Yimen County, Yuxi City; At about 3:11 a.m. on June 13, the elephants began to return to the top of Nanshan Mountain. By 15 o'clock, the elephants were resting and sleeping near the top of Nanshan Mountain. Five members of the wild Asian elephant search and monitoring task team of Yunnan forest fire brigade continued to monitor.

Provincial headquarters organizes experts to study and judge the migration route of image groups, guide the site headquarters to use the guidance method scientifically, and earnestly implement the measures to help move, so as to ensure the safety of human image.

On the same day, the site headquarters of Yimen County, Jinning district and Anning City put in 319 emergency disposal personnel and police force, dispatched 439 residual soil vehicles, 47 engineering vehicles, 181 emergency vehicles and 18 drones, evacuated 3548 people from 916 households, and fed 1 ton of elephant food to supplement the supply of Asian elephant food sources.

Why did the elephant group stop North?

Guide people to the West and south to avoid densely populated areas

After leaving Jinning in Kunming on June 5 and entering Yuxi Yimen, the "short nose family" has been staying in Yimen for a week.

According to monitoring, during the day of June 13, the elephant group remained in the mountain forest near Nanshan village, Yi Township, Shijie, Yimen County, Yuxi City.

Why did the elephant group stop North after arriving Yimen and stayed for more than a week?

Chenmingyong, Professor of the College of biology and environment of Yunnan University, gave further answers.

In Nanshan village, Yi Township, Shijie County, Yimen County, Yuxi City, Chuncheng evening news reporter Kaiping news reporter saw that most of the ecological vegetation in the mountain forest where the elephant group stayed was mainly shrubs, which was not in particular in line with the elephant's habits. So why did the elephant come here and stay?

"It is not that the elephants stopped north, but we have taken a series of measures to guide the elephants to the West and south." Chen Mingyong, a professor at the school of biology and environment of Yunnan University, said that through daily observation, the monitoring personnel studied the changes in the behavior of elephant groups and found that when the environment was not suitable, the movement speed of elephant groups would accelerate“ Some time ago, after crossing the Yuanjiang River and entering Shiping, the elephants ran very fast and entered mount e at a speed of ten to twenty kilometers a day due to the lack of shelter from trees and the lack of food during the rainy season. "

After the elephant group entered Shuanghe township of Jinning, a series of measures were taken, such as blocking with large vehicles and machinery, and guided by food, etc., which led the elephants to Yimen to the West and south, avoiding densely populated areas.

Why do elephants stay in Yimen for nearly a week?

Slow moving in rainy days waiting for the departure of the public elephant to return to the team

On June 5, after the elephant group entered Yimen, it had been staying for a week. Compared with the previous speed of more than ten kilometers per day, it can be said that it is quite "leisurely" - resting in the mountains during the day and going out for activities and foraging at night.

Chen Mingyong analyzed that the elephant group stayed in Yimen for a long time, largely due to the weather.

"Rain will have an impact on the speed of elephant movement. Rain into the eyes can cause inconvenience of movement, and the muddy and slippery slope also causes elephants to fall easily. "

In addition, the expert group judged that the elephant group might be waiting for the public image to return to the group, and would leave quickly after the convergence“ There will be sound communication between the herd and the outcast males Chen Mingyong said that on June 11 and 12, the monitoring personnel simultaneously monitored the calls of the outlying males and the leading females. After receiving the "signal", the outlier elephant is gradually approaching the direction of the elephant group. At present, the distance between the two sides has been shortened from 18 km to 14 km.

Where will the next step go?

Hope to guide Xiangqun to return to Pu'er through Xinping, Yuxi

Where will the next image group go?

"We have initially planned a route for them to guide the elephant group to enter the Pu'er River from Xinping, Yuxi, and finally return to Xishuangbanna." Chen Mingyong said that after the rainy season, the food for elephants is very rich, and the inducing effect of food is not very great. But after eating a lot of plants, elephants also need to add salt to digest plant fiber“ There are almost no salt containing mineral reservoirs in this area, so in terms of guiding strategy, we also began to feed some water sources containing mineral salts for guidance. "

"The best thing is to hope they can find their way back, or rediscover a path back." Chen Mingyong said that in the next step of disposal, under the premise of ensuring that the personnel and Asian elephants will not be injured, the headquarters will continue to take measures such as interception, feeding guidance, etc., continue to control the elephants from moving eastward or northward into densely populated areas, and continue to guide the elephants to move westward and southward.

But the time it takes to "go home" is not yet to be judged. Chen Mingyong said that due to the need to cross a series of natural barriers such as the Red River, Ailao Mountain and Wuliang Mountain on the way home, the red river rises after the rainy season, and it is very risky for a baby elephant to cross the river in a few months. In addition, the food in summer is more abundant than that in autumn and winter, so the headquarters decided that the elephants could not return to Pu'er or Xishuangbanna in a short period of time. The most optimistic prediction of the time for the "short nose family" to go home was "about winter".