No, this is not a story about sword fighting elephants at the animal Olympics but rather some observations on how difficult it is to stop elephants from choosing their own paths.
There are many (mostly true) stories about elephants knocking down fences that get in their way – because they can. There are also dozens of accounts of frustrated reserve owners who put up electric fences to keep their wildlife from escaping only to find that elephants learn how to use nearby trees to flatten these fences.
Elephants are quite adept at using tools to achieve what they want. The problem is that elephants are not only very large, but that they are rather intelligent too.
One of the most amazing elephant escape stories of recent times is about the herd that went wandering in the south of China.
You might have read about this great escape online, but just in case you missed some parts of it, here is a recap.
A herd of Asian elephants in China’s Yunnan Province left their usual habitat in a tropical region known as Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture close to the borders of Laos and Myanmar in March 2020 and began a long journey for no apparent reason.
The original group of 17 consisted of three bulls, six cows, three juveniles, three babies and two adults of unknown sex. After a few days three of them returned to the Mengyang Reserve where they came from and subsequently a baby has been born en route.
They crossed hills, valleys, bridges, ploughed fields, forests and even strolled through the streets of towns and villages on their way.
When the first reports of their odyssey seeped out into the international media, no one knew why they had decided to move or where they were going. The Chinese authorities were perplexed, but instead of doing anything drastic – they monitored the situation with all their electronic wizardry, including 12 drones and good old fashioned in situ observations.
Officials and local inhabitants guided the elephants away from populated areas using food and roadblocks formed by dozens of heavy duty trucks. They rapidly set up strategically placed fences and established elephant ‘canteens’ of pineapples and corn where they could satisfy their appetites.
The Chinese government has put in an immense effort to defuse a potential conflict with humans in the area and at the same time conserve the species. It is now considering setting up a new national park.
The media reported on their progress with spectacular photographs and drone footage. Everyone was fascinated by the unfolding story of the elephant migration. The wandering pachyderms attracted a huge amount of attention on social media with thousands of people monitoring their movements. A famous pop star in China even recorded a song about the elephants.
The migrating elephants caused damages to property and crops valued at five million yuan (U$770,000), but the local populations appeared to be more than understanding.
Yunnan Province deployed more than 25,000 police and staff and 1,500 vehicles to track and feed the elephants as well as ensure public safety.
Eventually the herd arrived on the outskirts of Kunming, a provincial capital with a population of over eight million. This was potentially dangerous so officials were pleased when their efforts to turn the elephants back home appeared to be working.
The long march to their reserve went much quicker than the early parts of their wanderings and on August 8 they crossed the Yuanjiang River to bring them closer to their natural habitat. A few days later, they finally returned to their original location after a 17-month trek of some 1,300 kilometres.
This is a remarkable story by any measure, but what is of great interest to media analysts is China’s softly-softly approach to dealing with the great escape and how the ongoing media attention has shown a gentler side to China that is gradually being perceived as militaristic.
When the elephants were returning to their home reserve, Chinese authorities were so keen on ensuring that nothing could possibly go wrong, they evacuated more than 150,000 people living in the elephants expected path.
Although no one is certain of the reason for their wanderings, some experts have noted that the population of Asian elephants in China has been growing which could be putting pressure on food sources and space.
This story has ended well – this time, but a local expert with the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Management Bureau, Shen Qingzhong, said it is likely the elephants will head north again at some time in the future.
He said at a media briefing, "The migration and spread of the Asian elephant population is inevitable".
This is an amazing feat.
I have never heard of an escape of so many elephants at one time in my own country, South Africa. However, I am absolutely certain that the chances of evacuating so many people here are less than zero. Most people would just not move, no matter what happens.
Initially, park authorities might try to use helicopters to scare the elephants back into the reserve and if that failed they would be darted and transported back under sedation. Sadly, a final option would be to shoot them dead.
At the Addo Elephant Park (AEP) there is to my knowledge, only one reported case of a single elephant escaping. It was the incident when the park’s most famous inhabitant, a large bull known as Hapoor managed to leave the park.
Fences to keep elephants out
Fences are not only used to keep elephants and other wild animals inside a reserve. At the AEP, park management decided to use an unusual type of fencing to keep elephants out of an area.
The problem was that the ground around some of the waterholes in the park was becoming as barren as a moonscape. Hundreds of elephants (and other animals) walking to and from the waterholes everyday destroyed all plant life in the surroundings.
There was no chance for grass and bushes to regrow as they were constantly being trampled by large herds of elephants. The burgeoning elephant population made life difficult for other animals that needed to drink at the waterholes too. Quite often, elephants deliberately keep other very thirsty animals away from the water. Juvenile elephants can be particularly nasty chasing away zebras and warthogs just for the fun of it.
So, how do you keep elephants out while giving other animals access to the much needed water?
Park management came up with a novel idea. They put up poles to form a square around each waterhole. They then strung electric wires horizontally between the poles and used them to dangle shorter wires that were high enough to shock to adult elephants, but not other animals. (There are no giraffes in the AEP)
This worked reasonably well for a while. Zebras, buffaloes, warthogs and hartebeest did not even seem to notice the charge and carried on drinking as usual. Elephants kept away after being shocked a few times and had to walk quite long distances to another unprotected waterhole.
I once saw lions creep gingerly under the wires even though they were well below the height where they were in any danger. They seemed to somehow sense a buzz from the electrical fields hanging above them.
The elephants however, were not to be denied - at least not all of them. Soon there were reports circulating on social media that one particular elephant had worked out how to destroy the electrical system by pushing down at least one of the poles at the corners. This elephant, known as ‘Bliksem’ (rude word meaning scoundrel, bastard) would push down the fence then delicately step over the mess to get to the water.
The rangers came and fixed the fence many times, but each time Bliksem knocked it down again. He did not visit all the enclosed water holes, but he seemed to enjoy destroying the Lismore Waterhole structure.
Another large elephant soon learned that he could ‘leopard-crawl’ under the fence and get to the water. Video of this leopard-crawling elephant was widely circulated on social media. Who would ever have imagined that an adult elephant could actually crawl?
These accounts are amusing for the visitors who marvel at elephant ingenuity, but the problem remains: how do you protect the environment around waterholes?
All the waterholes in the AEP main section are artificially supplied with water as the park is situated in drought-affected area – but the waterholes are small and the elephants take up a lot of space.
There doesn’t seem to be a solution at the moment so if you have ideas on how this problem can be solved, let me know and I will pass them on to park management.
Thank-you for sharing this wonderful newsletter - really lovely to hear about the caring side of China and Bliksem's ingenuity.