China News Agency, Pu'er, August 12 (Reporter Han Shuainan) August 12 this year is the 11th World Elephant Day, but Asian elephants and Asian elephant monitors have not "holiday".

Recently, a group of wild Asian elephants came to the vicinity of Manke Old Village in Jiangcheng, Yunnan Province. Monitor Diao Faxing controlled the drone to keep an eye on the movements of the elephants. It was not until the elephants left the village and entered the forest that he breathed a sigh of relief.

　　Diao Faxing's life trajectory was changed by Asian elephants.

Originally a truck driver, out of curiosity about Asian elephants, he applied for a job as an Asian elephant monitor in 2016.

Diao Faxing recalled that the initial monitoring work was all based on the naked eye.

In just a few years, the level of Asian elephant monitoring technology and equipment has been greatly improved.

With the help of drones, infrared cameras and other equipment, monitors can accurately and quickly grasp the movements of Asian elephants and issue early warnings in a timely manner.

　　Diao Faxing introduced that in recent years, the relationship between people and Asian elephants has gradually eased from mutual vigilance, and people are no longer as afraid of elephants as they used to be.

"But monitors still need to be vigilant at all times and remind people to keep their distance from Asian elephants."

　　"Elephants are very cute and are friends of human beings, but we should not disturb their lives." Liu Kai, an 8-year-old primary school student in Yixiang Town, Pu'er City, learned about Asian elephants from textbooks and from what he saw with his own eyes.

　　There are often wild Asian elephants near the Benglong Primary School where Liu Kai is located.

After an elephant accidentally entered the campus in 2021, the school has set up solid elephant guardrails at the front and rear gates.

The school will also regularly carry out emergency drills on elephant prevention and courses related to biodiversity conservation, so that children and elephants do not interfere with each other in their respective spaces.

　　Elephant-proof lights, shelters, electronic fences... People use these facilities to maintain a "safe distance" from Asian elephants.

Under the continuous propaganda and guidance of the Chinese government, the public's awareness of and protection of Asian elephants has been continuously improved, and the "psychological distance" with elephants has been continuously narrowed.

　　At the same time, Asian elephants are changing, most notably by their rapid population growth.

According to monitoring, the population of Asian elephants in China has increased from about 150 in the 1980s to about 360 at present.

　　Guo Xianming, director of the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Institute of Science, believes that the continuous increase in the number of Asian elephants stems from the achievements of ecological civilization construction, the continuous improvement of human tolerance for them, the expansion of the Asian elephant's range, and the protection of human beings. Make the conception and birth of female elephants more smooth.

　　These changes come from China's effective exploration in legal and regulatory protection, Asian elephant habitat protection, population protection, and alleviation of human-elephant conflicts.

　　It is worth mentioning that Asian elephants have changed the world's understanding of China.

　　In 2021, a group of Asian elephants headed north through Duozhou, Yunnan, after a long journey of more than 110 days and 1,300 kilometers, and finally returned to their habitat southward under the protection of the Chinese government and people.

The event attracted more than 3,000 domestic and foreign media to participate in the report.

These reports cover China's ecology, environment, humanities, tourism and other fields, allowing people from all over the world to know a real, three-dimensional and comprehensive China through the "Yunnan Elephant".

　　"People in many countries still know little about the real situation in China." David Blair, deputy director of the Globalization Think Tank and an American economist, made a video speech at the first Elephant International Communication Forum held recently. He said that the case represented by Asian elephants "going north and returning to the south" has made the world understand China's achievements in development and protection of nature and wild animals.

　　In addition, China is also exploring a new model of human-elephant coexistence.

　　"At present, the scale of Asian elephants entering the human world is unprecedented, which challenges the traditional means of animal control." Chen Fei, director of the Asian Elephant Research Center of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, said that China's way of dealing with human-elephant conflicts is gradually From blocking to sparse, from single to multiple, from short-term considerations to sustainable development.

　　Chen Fei said that the Asian Elephant National Park under construction has a more comprehensive protection concept, and more emphasis is placed on the combination of ecological protection and community development, which will bring fundamental changes to alleviating the "human-elephant conflict" in the region.

(Finish)