Elephants Wandered Hundreds Of Miles Into A Chinese City. Nobody Knows Why

Those are US investigators, checking out Wuhan.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
A group of wild elephants has wandered into the suburbs of the Chinese city of Kunming after trekking more than 300 miles from their home, perplexing experts and stymying officials who have tried to keep the hulking animals out of populated areas.

The 15 Asian elephants — some mature and others still young — left a nature reserve near China's border with Myanmar and Laos more than a year ago and have been northbound ever since, according to Chinese media.

Along the way, they have traversed forests, forded streams, tromped through villages and towns, broken into farms and raided crop fields. One young elephant was even reported to have become drunk after snarfing down a stash of fermented grain used to make liquor.

Authorities have mobilized hundreds of people and deployed drones to track the group of pachyderms. They've used fruit and vegetables as bait and set up barriers to try to keep the elephants from entering populated areas, including Kunming, which is home to around 7 million people.

But the group has pressed on. The big question is: Why?

Experts suspect they left their home in search of resources.

"We tend to talk about three S's: safety, sustenance and sex," said George Wittemyer, an elephant specialist at Colorado State University and chairman of the scientific board at Save The Elephants.

"(Elephants) move to avoid high risks or to avoid dangerous situations. They move to find food resources, and nutrition and water. And they move for social reasons and reproductive opportunities," Wittemyer said by phone from Kenya, where he is studying African elephants.

In the region of Xishuangbanna, where this group originated, the population of elephants has grown since the government set up two reserves. There are about 280 elephants living there now.