I love elephants and have stood near them for hours
admiring them – a few trips to Kerala, provided good opportunity for
photographing some beautifully majestic tuskers .. .. longing for another
opportunity ! – have never seen an elephant sleeping though !
Animals and birds move
from one place to another – migration ! .. ..
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south
along a flyway between breeding and wintering grounds, undertaken by many
species of birds. Migration, which carries high costs in predation and
mortality, including from hunting by humans, is driven primarily by
availability of food. The Arctic Tern holds the long-distance migration record
for birds, travelling between Arctic breeding grounds and the Antarctic each
year. The timing of migration is controlled primarily by changes in day length.
Migrating birds navigate using celestial cues from the sun and stars, the
earth's magnetic field, and probably also mental maps.
Promoted as one
of nature’s greatest spectacles, the annual migration draws millions of tourists to the African country
annually. The annual migration consists
of wildebeest, zebra, eland and gazelle.
More than one million wildebeest, 500,000 gazelle, and 200,000 zebras
migrate in a clockwise hunt for greener pastures across the plains of
Africa. During this time, huge herbivore herds, which have been grazing
in Masai Mara Reserve of Kenya, make the trip south to Serengeti Park of
Tanzania. This post is on ‘Elephants’ – moving miles away from their place in China,
taking internet by storm.
In 1930, as many as 10
million wild elephants roamed huge swaths of the African continent. But decades
of poaching and conflict have since decimated African elephant populations. In
2016, experts estimated that Africa’s elephant population had dropped by
111,000 elephants in the span of a decade. Today, there are just 415,000
elephants across Africa. While elephant poaching is trending downward, with
significant declines in East Africa, poaching continues to steer the species
dangerously nearer to extinction. Five years ago, researchers in Africa
undertook a mammoth task: counting the continent’s elephants. The Great Elephant Census spanned 18
countries and 295,000 miles, making it the largest, most comprehensive survey
of African elephants ever. But the results, released in 2016, were sobering:
Just 352,271 savanna elephants were found across their current range—a 30% drop
in seven years.
Botswana is
currently home to more elephants than any other African country, and southern
Africa remains a stronghold for 293,000, or 70%, of the estimated remaining
African elephants. China has only about
300 wild elephants, mainly in the south of Yunnan province. Scientists say this
is the furthest any of the wild elephants there have travelled from the
habitat. – it is all about a herd of wild elephants that have attracted global
attention for their year-long trek through China has resumed walking after
resting for a spell in a forest. The herd of 15 wild Asian elephants has
covered a 500km stretch on a journey that began over a year ago when they left
their designated elephant protection zone in Xishuangbanna, near China’s border
with Myanmar.
They are
believed to be headed northwest, though the reason behind this migration is
unknown. The group took a break on Monday, during which they were captured
sleeping together in a patch of forest on the outskirts of southwest China’s
Kunming. The provincial forest fire brigade has released the drone camera
footage. Tracking teams are currently working around the clock to monitor their
movements. More than 400 emergency response personnel have also
been deployed. The herd is attracting growing attention now thanks in part to
the stop-start nature of its journey. The animals are said to have arrived in
Pu’er in Yunnan in November, where a female elephant gave birth to a baby and
settled in place for five months before starting to walk again on 16 April.
Chen Fei, director of the
State Forestry and Grassland Administration’s Asian Elephant Research Centre,
said they were watching closely to see if the herd resumes its northward
trajectory, and would evacuate villages if necessary. Wildlife experts are
attempting to understand the possible reasons behind this unusual activity from
the elephants. It is believed that the space available for China’s last
remaining native elephant community has gradually shrunk over the years, with
the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna replaced with banana, tea or rubber
plantations or used to plant lucrative raw materials for traditional Chinese
medicine.
The photos are quite
attractive - China's famous herd of wandering elephants have stopped for a
well-earned rest after a record 300-mile trek across the country following
their escape from a nature reserve. The 15-strong group of wild Asian elephants
has been wandering towards the city of Kunming, in Yunnan province, since April
16 when they broke out of a nature reserve in Xishuangbanna Dai prefecture. They
are now in the countryside in the Xinyang Township, around 55 miles south-west
of Kunming, and were spotted looking exhausted as the group lay down in a
forest with their legs and trunks sprawled out over the ground. The herd appear to be sleeping in a pyramid
shape as one baby elephant can be seen clinging onto an adult's leg whilst one
rests its trunk on another. The
elephants have come as close as two miles from the southern-most suburbs of
regional capital Kunming, sparking fears they could enter the city and cause
chaos.
Roads have been blocked
using lorries while 18 tons of pineapples and corn have been scattered in an
attempt to lead the elephants away from the city's Jinning district. During
their epic journey, the elephants have been caught at night trotting down urban
streets by security cameras, filmed constantly from the air by more than a
dozen drones and followed by those seeking to minimise damage and keep both
pachyderms and people out of harm's way. But the wild animals caused have
caused mayhem by walking down urban roads and sticking their trunks through
residential windows in Kunming, despite officials' efforts to divert them away
from the populated southwestern city of seven million people. They have raided
farms for food and water, visited a car dealership and even showed up at a
retirement home, where they poked their trunks into some of the rooms,
prompting one elderly man to hide under his bed.
Since beginning their epic
journey, the elephants have wandered the streets, broke into barns and munched
their way through farmland, causing an estimated 6.8 million yuan ($1.1
million) worth of damage. Elephants are a protected species in China, meaning
the herd will not be destroyed, while wildlife officers are also keen to avoid
using tranquilizers on the infants. The
adventures of the huge mammals have captivated the nation, with hundreds of
millions taking to social media to discuss their journey. Animal experts told
Xinhua news agency that it is unclear what has motivated the elephants'
migration, which is the longest ever recorded in China. But they said it is
possible that the pack leader 'lacks experience and led the whole group
astray.'
The initial
herd consisted of 16 elephants, but two of them turned around during the trek
and went home. A calf was then born during the walk, bringing the total to its
current 15. Observers say the group now consists of six adult females, three
adult males, three juveniles and three calves of unknown sex.
9th June 2021.
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