The Chinese Elephants Come Back
You might not know elephants live in China but they do. The Chinese did not know they lived there in the wild until 1949 because the elephants were so rare!!!
The Asiatic Elephant and the Gaur are two of China’s largest land animals. The Asiatic elephants have lived in China for hundreds and thousands of years.
Since they had no text book or information, they thought the elephants had become extinct long long ago. Another reason that the elephants were not seen is because they moved away from the big cities to southwest Yunnan where there were lots of plants but not a lot of people. In 1986 over 230 wild elephants were found in southwest Yunnan!!!!
Elephants eat bamboo leaves, wisteria leaves, twigs, wild fruit, and other greens. Their food has to be easy to get because they eat 450-650 pounds of fresh food in just one day!!! Their gray color and ability to walk silently makes them very unnoticeable. The gray blends in very well with shadows deep in the forest.
We did not see a wild elephant in China, but I hope we will encounter one later in our trip, because they are such amazing, interesting animals.
Click on the drawing below to learn more Elephant Fun Facts:
