Yunnan wild elephant collectively went north for 17 months, and finally someone recorded it completely

In March 2020, a group of wild Asian elephants

Depart from Yunnan Xishuangna,

Along the way to the north, reach the border of Kunming,

Local staff escorted guidance all the way,

In the end, they returned to Xishuangbanna safely.

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Elephant marching on farmland and mountain roads

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Elephant through the village along the way

Last year, this group of Asian elephants were hot all over the world.

More than 1,500 domestic and foreign media follow -up reports,

Weibo topic reading exceeds 5 billion times,

Attracted hundreds of millions of people to pay attention to.

Today, we pay attention to the fate of this group of elephants again,

"Walking with Elephant" documentary,

Record the complete process of their northward movement,

In addition to news reports,

Captured many exclusive stories,

Closely presents the wisdom and emotions of the Elephant Family, as well as their current situation.

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The Elephant Family is full of humanity, and they will play and make trouble

We interviewed director Chen Yizhi,

She has been shooting wild animals for 7 years,

In addition to the story behind the documentary,

We also talked,

Her thinking about human pictorial relationships,

And as a female director,

The original intention and advantage of shooting natural documentary.

Self -description: Chen Yizhi

Edit: Zhang Yalan

Responsible editor: Ni Chujiao

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Director Chen Yizhi, the director of the outdoor shooting

In June 2020, I saw the news of the Yunnan Wild Elephant from Xishuangbanna. At that time, there were many media and individuals shooting, but because they did not understand the habits of Asian elephants, some unsafe incidents occurred during the process. Later, the shooting needed to be licensed by the government. I have been waiting for the opportunity.

My university has studied documentary. It has been filmed for 7 years and has more experience. After obtaining permission in June last year, eight our team went to shoot.

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Short -nose family who is moving north

In fact, the migration of Asian elephants is not uncommon. In the past two years, our awareness of protection of Asian elephants has increased, and the number of Asian elephants has also increased. About 300 are now located in the west version of Yunnan, Pu'er and Lincang. When the number is large, they want to "expand the territory."

And in 2020, Yunnan rarely encountered the dry season, and the rainfall decreased. At that time, there were two Asian elephant families who ran away with the short -nose family.

But in general, the Asian elephant will only move around a few habitats and will not go too far. So this rare out of this time attracted everyone's attention and curiosity. I also want to take the whole process.

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The staff is monitoring the path of the elephant

The first half of the short -nose family is mainly based on manual escort, and will not interfere with their routes too much. It will only predict the direction of the elephant, and notify the villagers along the way in advance to prevent prevention.

There was a general headquarters at the scene, experts, forest guards, and forest firefighters who followed the whole process. Many forest guards are very familiar with the habits of Asian elephants, and even do some simple communication with the Asian elephant in the Asian elephant.

Along the way, they took real -time shooting through drones to judge the state of the elephant, and they would also do some guidance appropriately so that they knew which direction was a better path. But many times "people are not as good as they are", Asian elephants still choose to take their own way.

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The north line of the elephant is blocked with a truck along the way

When the elephant went north to the edge of Kunming, they still didn't mean to stop, and local staff began to guide them to return south. Because it continues north, there is no habitat for them, they may encounter a crisis of survival and attack humans.

They thought of many ways, such as blocking the truck, sprinkled some food along the way, and designed a way to return them south. The elephant was guided to turn the direction.

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The river is turbulent on the way to the south

The short -nose family needs to cross the river, but the two young elephants cannot take risks

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After guidance, the short -nose family chooses to trust humans

Line in line and passed the Yuanjiang Bridge

When the north went north, the river along the way was in the dry period without much threat, but when it returned to the rainy season, the river water level rose. There are two small elephants who have just been born in the short -nose family, and they dare not take risks.

Since it is not returning to the original road, this time they need to cross Yuanjiang and the path to the other side is only one -through the Yuanjiang Bridge.

It is an almost impossible task to guide the bridge of the elephant, because in normal words, wild elephants are impossible to cross the bridge and have never seen it internationally. Especially for this large -scale facility built by humans, they are even unwilling to stay next to them.

There is only one possibility of elephant crossing the bridge, that is, they trust humans. Therefore, the staff dug a pool on their way, and a lot of small barrels were placed next to them, and a temporary guest house was set up to express friendship. The elephant stayed in the pool for a long time.

The pavement work is complete, and then use a truck to block the passage to guide them to the bridge.

At that time, everyone was very nervous. It was staring at the monitors to see their reactions all night. I did not expect that in the end, the short -nasal family still chose to believe the route that humans planned it for it. They lined up the bridge and finally returned to Xishuangbanna.

This time, the government sent a total of 25,000 people to guarantee along the way, and the claims spent more than 5 million.

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Elephant chasing and playing in the rain forest

We also followed some pictures after they returned to the Western version. The short -nose family saw the old friends in the past. In contrast, this group of adventurers were obviously lost a lot.

As soon as the two small elephants were born on the road, they grew up a lot when they returned to Xishuangbanna, and they seemed to like this home that I saw for the first time. The Asian elephant living there for generations has long been accustomed to eating crops and accompanied the villages. After this adventure, they should not leave at will.

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Thermal imaging screen of elephant

In order to capture more exclusive stories and pictures that have not been reported in the news, we have adopted a variety of shooting methods.

There are three ground shooting groups, waiting at any time. In addition, there is a drone group that has been following the elephant. The shooting at night mainly relies on technology and uses hot imaging methods.

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In the short -nasal family team

Investigation is in front

The young elephant is always protected in the middle, and the guard elephant is at the end

During the close follow -up process, I found that the elephant was indeed very wise.

For example, the short -nose family is very conscious. There are nanny, guards, and investigations in the family. When the elephant passed Eshan, they sent an investigation elephant to the foot of the mountain. It trips three trips back and forth to measure and observe the situation of the entire county. In the end, one of the routes was selected.

Later, when we looked at the map, we found that the path of them through the county is indeed the shortest between the two mountains.

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The mother elephant arched the small elephant out of the pool with the nose

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Elephant dug a passage by ivory and elephants at the pool

The elephant leaves its original habitat, and it will not go very well all the way. The more you go north, the closer to the human living area, the more difficult to find the water. On one occasion, the four elephants walked into a 3 -meter -deep artificial reservoir in order to drink water. They were trapped in the pool and could only stretch out their noses and breathe.

They struggled all night in the water. Because there is a young elephant, the situation is very critical. When the staff was preparing to dispatch the rescue, we found through the camera that the mother elephant arched the pool with the nose.

Subsequently, the elephant ran to the foot of the mountain to call for his companions. In the pool, the sub -adult public elephant in the pool dugged the cement with ivory and the elephant, and dug a passage at the pool, and the elephant was saved. They were smart and united, and we were all moved at the time.

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The ground team followed the elephant from a distance

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The shooting team meets the elephant narrow road

I have a very close contact with the elephant, which impressed me.

Generally speaking, the safe distance between the elephant is 100 to 200 meters, so as to ensure that it escapes in time when it is dangerous.

Our shooting team has always kept a distance of 1 to 2 kilometers from the Asian elephant to ensure that it can keep up and prevent them from being nervous. No one has the opportunity to follow them or behind them, and does not interfere with their judgment on the route.

However, they will also lose them. For example, if there is a foggy sky, the drone cannot find the position of the elephant. Everyone must drive to the mountain to find.

After going up the mountain, we received the news of the staff on the scene, saying that the elephant was in front. We took the fire in the car. I was confused. The two -meter -tall mother elephant suddenly came out of the fog, and there was a small elephant in the middle.

I was worried at the time that they would rush towards our car. If they judge that we are dangerous, maybe we can step on our car. Perhaps because of their small elephants, they immediately turned around and returned to the fog.

At that moment, I was touched. The two mother elephants are wisdom, tolerance and tolerance. They do not act lightly, they will give priority to their children's safety and choose to concessions.

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After the long journey, the elephant collectively lying in the woods and sleeping

When it comes to the relationship between human beings, we generally focus on the contradictions between human residence and the habitat of elephant habitats. But on the way, I have a deeper understanding of the relationship between people.

The most intuitive, such as the relationship between them and our group of photographers and staff. At first, because the Asian elephant was sensitive to noise, they rejected the drone. Several times will suddenly return, as if we are warning us. Later, they were used to it and were not so nervous.

Many people may have never seen an elephant lying down to sleep. For example, in the zoo, you can't see it, because they are always nervous. Generally speaking, only the young elephants are lying and sleeping, and the two or three adults will stand in the surrounding area. But this time, when the short -nose family came to a forest on the mountain, they chose to lie down and sleep collectively. This is a great trust in us.

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During the migration process, the elephant passed through the human village

As long as there is no food a day, it will cause hidden safety hazards

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Enjoy the elephant in cornfield

The government has certain subsidies for the loss of farmers

In addition, the relationship between farmers and elephants is also contradictory and interesting.

When the elephant went north, because many villagers had not seen the elephants, they were surprised and would cut some banana cores from their own warehouses, put it on the route passed by the elephant, and even welcomed elephants to eat crops in their fields to eat crops. Of course the government will compensate.

Farmers living in Xishuangbanna are relatively different, they mentioned that elephants will be helpless. Because the crops that are worked hard every year may be caught in the elephant.

Because the memory of the Asian elephant is very good, as long as it has eaten it once, it will remember the timing of the farmland position and the rudder of the crops. It does not exceed three days before and after the next year, and it arrives on time.

In order to reduce losses, local farmers will also make some adjustments, such as no more corn love to eat elephants, and change the dragon fruit. This is the most unwilling to eat at present.

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The villagers complained along the way:

"From the north of the elephant, you must wait until 11 o'clock to go out to work." However, the locals and elephants have been getting along for a long time, and each other has a tacit understanding. Elephants can understand the local language of the locals, and they can also recognize the language and emotions of elephants.

After returning to Xishuangbanna, I saw two videos on the locals' mobile phones, which touched me a lot.

In one of the videos, an elephant walked into the alley in a village, and the villagers ran towards the camera in panic. But one of the old women in Dai costumes, she walked in front of the Asian elephant in a hurry and worshiped at it. The elephant stopped there and did not continue to move forward.

In another picture, a small yard in the villagers was walked into the villagers, and a man picked up the iron barrel around him and smashed it on the elephant's face. There was no attack on the elephant, letting the man vent.

The memory of the Asian elephant is very strong. Many small elephants know what the mother has experienced when it is born. It is actually born with family memory.

Therefore, the elephant is very clear that humans are released to them with goodwill and awe or they will still attack them.

Many people will be curious about the identity of "female director". In everyone's opinion, shooting in the wild and dealing with wild animals seems to be more able to plan. But I think this has little to do with gender. Maybe my feelings are delicate and easier to rejoice with animals.

I have also tried to find the "human nature" on animals through documentary, hoping to understand and feel them, and think about their relationship with humanity.

In this shooting, I was also observing the rich emotions, each other's fetters, and friendship and unity.

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After returning to Xishuangbanna, the short -nose family and other elephant group are together

The short -nose family has a very warm side. There is a departure at the junction of the Asian nose and mouth. It is an organs that they use to detect external pheromone, and they will also use to feel the mood of their companions. If the other party is relatively low, they will put their noses on the other's back.

Of course, they have not been warm and harmonious, and there is a short -term division within the family. After they arrived in Pu'er, two public elephants may have passed the estrus period, or they were rejected by other mother elephants, and they turned around and returned to Xishuangbanna.

There is also a subsequent adult public elephant, which is also a half -way team. It walked around, collided with trees, and finally returned to Xishuangbanna after being anesthetized.

In fact, they are like a teenager. When they go to a strange place, they are eager to get attention and love. When they do not get the harbor, there will be many young and vigorous emotions to vent.

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Stills of the documentary "Sky Love Song"

Another example is the documentary "The Song of Tianxing Love". We spent three and a half years at that time to shoot the Gibbon in a place called Ji Kang in Gaoligong Mountain, Yunnan. At first, the protagonist was a family of four, two couples, and two children. Later, the mother ape died, leaving only three.

Twenty or thirty kilometers away, there is a single mother ape. It has always lived alone, calling for the other half of its half, it has been called for 20 years.

We wanted to help them find each other and reproduce the next generation. So he used the sound to test the sound of the mother ape remotely and found that they could understand and communicate with each other.

Later, we invited a sound engineer to design a software for the gibbon. Through the live broadcast, the apes in the two areas were heard by each other and moved along the direction of the sound.

That documentary is the story of the love call transfer of the gibbon world.

Although they are animals, they are also monogamy and one wife. They are dedicated. When they are single, they will also look for love. I am very able to suffer, because like we humans, they are full of expectations and loss of love.

As a person, thinking mode is limited to a specific role. But understanding the world of wild animals will make your thinking easier and longer.

I also believe that only people have fully entered their world, understand them, and rejoice with them can there be ideas to protect them.

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"Walking with Elephant" stills

Shooting wild animals in China also faces many difficulties. For example, before this shooting, a lot of research must be done, but I find that there are fewer related theories about Asian elephants in China, but there are relatively many research on African elephants. So one of the shooting is difficult to get familiarity with species.

In China, natural films do not have a good market foundation. It is difficult to find funds in the early stage of creation.

But I still want to make the Chinese's own wildlife documentary to record the land of our lives. Using the image of images to record the survival status of wild animals, this will not only have literature value, but also form a certain social influence, allowing everyone to pay attention to the problem of wildlife protection.

The material is provided by the Chinese Studio and Tencent Sustainable Social Value Business Department

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