As a genetic treasure house of biodiversity in China and even around the world, Yunnan has taken the lead in the country in recent years to propose the conservation concept of "rescuing extremely small population species" and continues to promote the rescue and protection of wild animals and plants. Among them, Yunnan has been included in the "14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China" Five" The critically endangered species under rescue protection, the Asian elephant, has attracted global attention because of its migration north and south in 2021.
Restoring and protecting the ecological homeland where wild Asian elephants depend is the key to saving extremely small populations of species. Let’s walk into the tropical rainforest and see how Yunnan, which is neighbored by elephants, explores and builds a “Chinese example” of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
At the Wild Elephant Valley in Xishuangbanna, this group of tourists did not expect that during their short sightseeing time, they would actually encounter Asian elephants at close range. "Elephant Dad" Chen Jiming maintained order at the scene while paying close attention to the movements of the three elephants who were being trained for release into the wild.
Chen Jiming, director of Xishuangbanna Asian Elephant Rescue and Breeding Center: If it is in this range, we generally don’t care. It should eat and drink. When it comes to the rainforest, it dominates us. We can just follow it wherever it goes.
The targets of rewilding training are mainly Asian elephants that have left the group due to injury or assisted breeding, and currently do not have the ability to survive in the wild. Sheep Niu was born in the Year of the Sheep, rescued in the Year of the Sheep, and grew up drinking goat's milk; however, she gave birth to a daughter but had little experience, and was a mother who often asked her companions to help take care of her children. In this temporary elephant home, the identity information and experiences of each Asian elephant will be recorded.
Chen Jiming, Director of Xishuangbanna Asian Elephant Rescue and Breeding Center: I remember that it was only 76 kilograms and was skinny and skinny. But the elephant is very smart. It realizes that its calf is sick and may not be able to survive, so it takes it to an area of human activity or abandons it near a village, and seeks help from humans.
The most direct help for human beings comes first from the companionship and protection of these "elephant daddies". Rescue and protection are both complex and scientific tasks. From the initial scattered rescue to 2009, when the center was officially completed and put into use, the Asian Elephant Rescue and Breeding Center has participated in more than 20 wild rescues. So far, 18 wild Asian elephants have been successfully rescued.
Wang Bin, Director of Xishuangbanna Prefecture Asian Elephant Conservation and Management Center: After so many years of rescue, our protection level has become higher and higher, making the rescued elephants healthier and healthier, and also making it closer to the conditions for release in the future. .
As the flagship species of China's tropical rainforest, the Asian elephant is also the most representative terrestrial vertebrate in Asia. In recent years, the country's efforts to protect Asian elephants have been continuously strengthened. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan" alone, the investment in protection and management funds has reached more than 200 million yuan. With the continuous improvement of Asian elephant protection and management measures, the Asian elephant population in Yunnan has grown steadily. In 30 years, the wild population has increased from 150 to more than 300 now.
Chen Fei, Director of the Asian Elephant Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration: From an ecological point of view, the flagship species, or umbrella species, is like an umbrella. Only with enough shelter, enough food and a growing environment can its population The increase in number indicates that it serves as a large umbrella to protect the living environment of the entire region. From this perspective, the growth of the elephant population can reflect the improvement of the country's ecological environment.
Elephants come and go, raising the level of smart protection to a new level
Taking Asian elephants and tropical rainforests as the main protection objects, how to scientifically plan the habitat space of Asian elephants through different dimensions to achieve overall protection and systematic restoration at the same time? Yunnan is relying on rich and rigorous scientific data to provide stronger support and guarantee for its long-term accumulated experience in protecting Asian elephants.
Abao, whose tracks are being recorded, is the first Asian elephant that has been released into the wild from a sheltered and rescued wild elephant in China. Judging from Abao's behavior trajectory more than two months after his release, he is currently staying away from the rainforest around the rescue and breeding center, and has even had preliminary communication and contact with other elephants, which illustrates the feasibility of the release trial. Already effective.
Chen Fei, Director of the Asian Elephant Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration: makes full use of high-tech means to protect more scientifically and rationally, rather than in a rigid state of protection.
In 2021, an Asian elephant journey from north to south that lasted more than 100 days and traveled a circuitous distance of more than 1,000 kilometers not only truly and vividly demonstrated to the world my country's biodiversity protection measures and results, but also made the scientific and technological support behind the protection The importance is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Tan Xuji, Director of the Asian Elephant Monitoring Center of the Yunnan Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Research Institute: We first applied artificial intelligence image recognition technology to species identification to identify Asian elephants. As artificial intelligence continues to analyze and summarize relevant image data, the recognition success rate has reached 99%, and problems such as the difficulty of monitoring Asian elephants at night and incomplete image monitoring have been overcome. This aspect has been greatly reflected in real-time monitoring and real-time warning.
To alleviate human-elephant conflicts, we must first ensure a safe distance between humans and elephants through timely early warning and physical isolation. Yang Jun, the monitor of the elephant guard team, now has a daily task of chasing and finding elephants to ensure that he can keep track of the movement routes of each Asian elephant family at all times. In 2022, the government purchased third-party services and established an elephant ranger team with the management scope of the main activity areas of Asian elephants. To protect elephants, we must also protect the people.
Yang Jun, monitor of the elephant guard team: Because some villagers have downloaded the app, which is also the push group for our early warning information, they will push it to each village and shout in the voice, where the elephant is, and let them Those working and doing farm work in the surrounding areas should come back as soon as possible.
Ease conflicts and explore the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature
Ensuring the safety of humans and elephants is the foundation, and promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and elephants is the direction. How to alleviate the human-elephant conflict caused by the continued growth of the elephant population and the contradiction between the habitat and environmental capacity is a realistic issue that must be faced.
"Po", who is returning to the wild, was the first Asian elephant to wander into the city. On April 7, 2018, the 2-ton Abao strolled into downtown Pu'er, and the risk level of human-elephant conflict suddenly increased. Encountering wild elephants in cities also makes everyone realize that the living environment of Asian elephants begins to overlap with human communities to a large extent.
In order to alleviate human-elephant conflicts, Yunnan took the lead in implementing the "Yunnan Province Compensation Measures for Personal and Property Damage Caused by Key Protected Terrestrial Wild Animals." So far, Yunnan has invested a total of 710 million yuan in this insurance system and paid out 656 million yuan in insurance benefits.
During the investigation, the reporter learned that as the ecological protection of the whole society continues to strengthen, the vegetation in the Yunnan tropical rainforest, especially in the Asian elephant reserve, is getting denser and denser. In dense forests with a canopy density greater than 0.75, the understory vegetation favored by Asian elephants is also decreasing. Because it is not conducive to foraging, more Asian elephants have actually left the protected area.
Li Rihuang, the person in charge of Sanguo Manor in Pu'er City: let the monitors guide them and lead them to safely pick up elephant dung. When ordinary people pick it up, they earn 45 yuan for each bag and 30 yuan for a small bag. In Jiangcheng, some villagers can earn four to five hundred yuan a day. The elephant monitors monitor the area. I let the elephant come and pick it up when it goes away.
An adult elephant eats about 180-200 kilograms per day on average. Because of its weak digestion ability, it excretes fifty or sixty kilograms of feces. Jiangcheng County borders Vietnam and Laos. This 40,000-acre forest organic estate located at the junction of the three countries is the best place for elephant dung.
Yang Yuming, member of the National Scientific Committee on Endangered Species: The Lancang River Valley is the distribution center of the genus Tea, and it also happens to be the area where Asian elephants are distributed. Manure itself is also a source of fertilizer for tea gardens, so it is also an important part of the entire material cycle and energy flow.
Asian elephants do not eat tea, but they leave behind rich organic fertilizers along the way.With the help of professional forces and social welfare organizations such as the Yunnan Academy of Forestry, the Tea Science Institute, and Southwest Forestry University, Li Rihuang has completed more than 10 years of large-scale afforestation of barren hills and persistent protection of the original ecology. This mountain rainforest has been completed With 12,000 acres of southwestern birch and 11,000 acres of Simao pine planted, the ecological tea garden under the forest has reached a scale of more than 20,000 acres. Today, the forest coverage rate of this estate has reached more than 95%, driving people to return to natural forest planting and enriching their income sources.
Xiao Jin, project leader of the ecological and environmental protection non-profit organization: We focus on quickly transforming the scientific and technological inventions of experts from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Academy of Forestry into protection and the replacement and development of livelihoods, including beekeeping and tea. , Chinese medicinal herbs, etc. It protects their natural resources, protects the elephants, and at the same time allows them to benefit from the conservation.
Source CCTV News (CCTV reporters Xu Ping, Liu Gang, Ma Shan, Yunnan Channel)
Responsible proofreader Guo Yi
Editor-in-chief Wu Xizhi
Final review Deputy editor-in-chief Wang Yun
