A wild elephant herd in the Asian continent has recently taken the internet by storm. This elephant herd has successfully managed to capture attention on a global basis. This group of elephants was on their way on an epic cross-country trekking journey across southwestern China. Even though the reason for this long journey remains unknown, they had managed to cross almost 500 kilometers of terrain in Asia.
The elephant herd had made their journey from the outskirts of Yunnan province in China to an area nearby Kunming which is the capital city to Yunnan. They had been trekking along this way. A group of Chinese social media users had been tracking and capturing this elephant herd on their trek for the past year.
This elephant herd has originally started its journey in the month of March 2020. There were 16 elephants in the herd that started out. However, 2 of them had wandered off while one more had joined after being born on the journey. As a result, there are a total of 15 elephants out of which 6 are adult females, 3 adult males, 3 young elephants, and 3 calves.
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Trekking Trip By Elephant Herd
The officials have been keeping an eye on this elephant herd in order to make sure if the number of elephants has decreased to 14. This was mainly due to the reason that 1 of the adult elephants had split off from the group and wandered away.
Till now, the primary reason behind this long journey undertaken by this group of elephants is not known. Nonetheless, this epic journey has emerged as one of the longest elephant migrations that have not been seen ever before in China. In addition, the officials have also remained clueless as to when they will conclude their trek.
The elephant herd has been spotted in the surveillance footage where they were seen marching through urban areas. Few of the drones were tracking them at all times to make sure that they did not cause any trouble to the humans and property around.
On the other hand, some of the footage that has become viral now shows a few of the antics of these elephants. Netizens are finding these antics to be extremely entertaining. Due to this reason, these clippings have garnered a huge number of views and likes.
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Elephant Herd Creates Internet Storm
One of the photos of the group of elephants shows them sleeping together in a grassland. This photo has received over 200 million views all over the Chinese social media platforms. Several other photos, as well as videos, have also generated enormous buzz and strong interest in China as well as all over the world.
As of now, the elephants have not caused any trouble or harm to any person. On the other hand, they have damaged crops worth more than $1 million to date. The police personnel has already blocked off many of the routes in the hope that it may guide the elephants away from various towns. They are also trying to cordon off some of the bustling and populated areas like Kunming that has a population of almost 8.5 million. Furthermore, the officials have laid out plenty of food in order to lure them along safer routes.
Baby elephant snuggles up to mum while the herd takes a nap pic.twitter.com/rqA4eodfH6
— The Sun (@TheSun) June 9, 2021
103 big vehicles and approximately 630 people have been deployed to guide the elephant herd away from populated localities. Although the officials have not made announcements regarding their future plans to deal with these migrating elephants. The Yunnan province usually has a strict state law that provides protection to Asian elephants and that is where most of them are kept. According to official records, the province had 193 elephants in the 1980s that has grown to nearly 300 today.
All Image Credits: CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION (CCTV)
