The question is where are they heading? Are they lost or hungry? Migrating or on an adventurous trip? Most of the media outlets are calling it a long march of elephants as a herd of 15 Asian tuskers has been seen trudging through China covering more than 500 km in over a year. They set off on the journey from the south of Yunnan province and were last spotted on the outskirts of its capital Kunming. 15 elephants have been hoovering up crops and poking their noses through doors on the march from the south of Yunnan province to its capital Kunming.
In fact, no one has been able to even guess why the elephants suddenly left Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve probably last spring. But they have been trekking fearlessly through villages, forests, country roads swallowing up anything from corn and pineapples loaded on trucks to standing crops in fields leaving a trail of curiosity, portended havoc and destructions.
Wandering Chinese elephants caused $1.1 million damage
There were also reports of an elephant becoming tipsy after they devoured grains leftover from fermentation. The Chinese officials have been trying to divert their routes keeping them removed from the cities or populated areas, but the herd of pachyderms seems unruffled. The clueless and helpless officials claim that the animals have caused damage to the tune of over $1.1 million.
Even the wildlife experts have no idea where the expedition will end or what new turn it will take. Because they had reportedly begun it with a group of 16 elephants, some of them probably returned while some have been born on the way making it a total of 15 now.
Incredible 500 km long march from Yunnan province
It is also not plain that why did the tuskers leave their abode in the first place. Some believe it could be due to their growing population in recent years or the erosion of their habitat. Perhaps the shrinking space breaching their natural barrier with respect to humans has made them less inhibitive and more audacious. Perhaps they find the crops more delicious than their routine forest foliage.
Some experts say that it’s no surprise that moving out of their habitat the elephants may have found the world beyond their boundary more interesting, so long as it’s safe. But this is not what they are known for, they say. It’s an unusual phenomenon.
So far the humans do not seem much perturbed about the wandering tuskers and are indeed enjoying the spectacles but the government has been warning them to stay away from the animals because they can turn both dangerous and deadly.
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