Editorial | Vagabond elephants put spotlight on underlying issues
- The wandering herd has provided a much-needed distraction from Covid-19 restrictions, but the animals have also highlighted the squeeze being put on habitats by human activity such as the rubber industry
Elephants, like people, value their families. There is understandable curiosity about the herd of the giant animals wandering the roads of southern China’s Yunnan province, hundreds of kilometres from their nature reserve home.
The normal behaviour of lying on the ground to rest, adults encircling their young for protection when sleeping, walking in a line tail-to-trunk and entering farms to search for food are fascinating to onlookers.
In the midst of Covid-19 restrictions, the seemingly aimless trek is much-needed relief, but there are important issues that have been highlighted; the squeezing of habitats by humans, what happens when conservation efforts are too successful and that ultimately, food and a safe place in which to live trump all else.
Migration is typical behaviour for elephants, but the 15-strong herd believed to have left its forest home in Xishuangbanna prefecture in the province’s southwest in April has ventured north far beyond the usual range.
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Tracking China's wandering elephants on their 500km journey across Yunnan province
Where it is headed is a mystery and for many on social media, a matter of speculation. Efforts to turn the animals back have so far failed. Their scrawny appearance and search for food says much; they are hungry.