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The Spanish researcher who follows the march of the wandering elephants in China

2021-06-13T08:23:33.534Z


Ahimsa Campos-Arzeiz explains that the dispersal of these animals has increased in Yunnan due to the reduction of their habitat, but also due to the success of conservation programs. "The more people and more attention, the more pressure on them"


They are the new media stars in China, and in the rest of the planet. A group of 14 wandering elephants, who have traveled more than 500 kilometers through Yunnan province, in the southwest of the country, since they left their reserve in this tropical area more than a year ago. They pilgrimage with no apparent destination, feeding on human crops, feasting on corn — their new favorite food — lying down for a nap or crossing a street like Pedro by his house. His passage through the outskirts of Kunming, the provincial capital, mobilized hundreds of police and dozens of drones to prevent them from entering an urban nucleus of nine million inhabitants. After a short break, they have resumed their march, with one member less, a male who has separated from the group. His route has captivated billions of people around the world.But although their journey is unusual, they are not the only pachyderms on the march in search of new horizons in this border area of ​​China.

The Spanish ecologist Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz knows this well. As one of the world's great experts on elephant behavior, the past two weeks have given him no respite. This professor and principal investigator of the Megafauna Ecology and Conservation Group in the Botanical Garden of the Yunnanese city of Xishuangbanna, on the border with Laos, has not only followed the herd route in Kunming; another wandering herd has entered his house: a group of 17 specimens have taken refuge in the woods of his botanical garden.

“They arrived in February, they stayed one night, they left and continued walking towards the southeast. And then, at the end of May, they came back. We thought they would be leaving soon, but no. They found that there was a lot of food, a lot of corn and a very comfortable place, and they have stayed, ”explains this researcher of Zaragoza origin and raised in Galicia in a telephone conversation from Xishuangbanna. This second group has traveled about 70 kilometers, a distance within the normal range.

The exodus of the other pack further north is much more peculiar. Their movements are very erratic, and experts are not sure why they have traveled so far, five times the usual maximum. Campos-Arzeiz explains that “they went to areas they did not know, where they had not been before, and which are very different from a bioclimatic point of view. They have left the humid tropical forest of Xishuangbanna and have gone into drier and hotter forests in central Yunnan, there it has been more difficult for them to find an environment that they can recognize as favorable. " In those areas with higher human density, they have tended to generate more attention, and to consume more crops from the peasants in the area.

“The more people and the more attention, the more pressure on them. So they have entered a kind of spiral, where with more pressure they have been eating more crops. They walked faster and chose areas such as roads or where it was very easy to move. And in the end they ended up in a city of nine million people, ”says the scientist, who has specialized in elephants for 15 years and who arrived in China last year. He previously studied these mammals in Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

For now, the position of Chinese officials is to wait and see, luring animals with food and rewards to keep them away from urban centers. The idea is to monitor them carefully and try to get them somewhere where they can settle. If the situation becomes complicated and the elephants cause serious damage, more drastic options should be considered, such as transporting them under prior anesthesia. "But that would be very complicated, and they are measures that can go wrong in many ways," explains the expert.

The displacement of elephants, social beings grouped in families, is not in itself rare. The males leave the herd when they reach adolescence, in search of their territory. It can also occur when a group perceives that they need more space. But in Yunnan this behavior, known as dispersal, has increased. In part, due to the reduction of the animals' natural habitat. In the last 40 years, rubber or palm crops have gained considerable ground from the humid forests where these animals take refuge. In part, paradoxically, because of the success of conservation programs. In the 1990s, the elephant population in this province was on the verge of extinction with a few dozen individuals, and their survival was hanging by a thread. Today, although it is still in danger, it is around 300 heads.

Pachyderms roam the farmlands of Shuanghe Township, in an image taken on June 4.

Unlike other countries in Asia, the tolerance of the inhabitants of areas populated by elephants towards these animals is great.

For cultural reasons among the indigenous minorities, but also for laws that sentence anyone who kills a specimen to 10 years in prison.

“There have also been other social changes in how people earn their income.

People depend less on crops, their economies are more on services ”.

This causes the herds to risk more to leave their reserves, in search of more space ... or food grown by man. They know that they will not harm them, and crops such as corn or rice, fatty plants, seem more appetizing than the food they can find in their natural habitat. "They have gone from avoiding contact with people to being very carefree," says the scientist, a member of the Spain-China Network of Researchers (RICE).

China's strategy towards elephants is very different from other Asian countries.

While in Sri Lanka or Malaysia they try to scare away the animals if they approach populated areas, in China “they have a very good monitoring system, with camera traps”.

As Campos-Arzeiz details, they also use drones that allow them to locate them.

"And then they warn the surrounding population through WeChat (the ubiquitous social network in this country) or other channels ..., they block the roads, they do not let people come near where they are."

That is why, he explains, the elephants - "food-swallowing machines" - are very comfortable.

"They have discovered that you can leave your park and have food feasts out there, to the point that some decide not to return."

The problem is that this situation increases the risk of conflict between elephants and humans.

Campos-Arzeiz's work consists to a large extent, precisely, in designing long-term strategies to prevent this and to generate tolerance towards these giants of nature.

"Although tolerance in this area is very high compared to other places in Asia, there are real problems," he explains.

The peasants lose their crops, eaten by the pachyderms.

Animals can run over and kill people - "there has been a lot of mortality in the last 10 years," acknowledges the expert.

He works long-term, on projects for five, eight years ahead. “What we are trying to do is understand the ecological elements that are leading to the expansion of the animal population. We want to be able to predict how the population will continue to expand, and understand what factors influence the risk of conflict, what kinds of situations can be modified so that mortality decreases ”. In addition, it seeks to reduce the economic loss that can cause the proximity of elephants in the inhabited nuclei. And expand the habitat of these animals. “The price of rubber has dropped a lot. It may be a good time to consider buying land and converting it into elephant forests. "

“We have to know that conservation will come with problems.

They are desirable problems, which we want to have, because they are the consequence of a success.

But we have to manage it.

We cannot be simplistic.

We must understand that there are interests that are not compatible: we cannot have all the development we want and at the same time have nature and animals.

We have to see how to achieve as much as possible in both fields… and that requires a little commitment ”, he concludes.

Respect for science in politics

Campos-Arzéiz assures that he has found a magnificent reception among the Chinese authorities. “The policies are very real. I think that in the next 20 or 30 years China is going to be very serious about environmental issues, because they know that they are interested and it brings real benefits ”. In addition to elephants, populations of other endangered animals, such as tigers or pandas, are growing, while in other nations they are declining. "Here in China there is a lot of confidence in science," insists the expert, recommending that young scientists in Spain explore the research opportunities that open up throughout Asia.



"Science requires mobility.

You cannot do a scientific career at the University where you did your degree, you have to move ”and, as he points out,“ the scientific map has changed ”.

In China there is “good science and good resources, a very interesting intellectual environment.

There are many people who complain that in Spain they do not have opportunities, and they have to start thinking beyond North America and Europe ”.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-06-13

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