Biological Conservation 112 (2003) 453459

www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon

Short note

An initial study on habitat conservation of Asian elephant

(Elephas maximus), with a focus on human elephant
conict in Simao, China
Li Zhang*, Ning Wang
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Ecology, Beijing Normal University,
Beijing 100875, PR China
Received 8 January 2002; received in revised form 10 October 2002; accepted 16 October 2002

Abstract
The impact of the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, on the rural agricultural economy in the Simao region of Yunnan province,
China, was assessed from 1996 to 2000. Elephants were responsible for large-scale crop and property damage, which caused serious
humanelephant conicts in the region. Attempts were made to reduce the conicts, by building man-made salt ponds in the forest,
digging trenches to protect farmland, as well as governmental compensation. An integrated community development and elephant
habitat conservation project is in practice in Simao. It is focused to support rural development of the economy and to promote
social tolerance to damage caused by elephants. The community-based conservation eorts played an important role in eorts to
solve the humanelephant conicts.
# 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Asian elephant; Wildlife conicts; Community participation; Integrated conversation

1. Introduction
Human pressures on elephants caused by poaching
and conict for resources, and eorts to modify the
eects of elephants on vegetation and crops, are widely
reported throughout Africa and Asia (Sukumar and
Gadgil, 1988; Sukumar, 1991; Kangwana, 1995; Ekobo,
1997; OConnell-Rodwell et al., 2000). Peopleelephant
conict refers to a range of direct and indirect negative
interaction between people and elephants which potentially harm both. The most publicized are crop damage
by elephants and injury or death to people (Ngure, 1995;
Lahm, 1996; Ekobo, 1997). The ultimate challenge to
conservationists now appears to be reduction of the economic impact on humans while living with elephants
and, at the same time, conserving viable populations of
elephants (Kangwana, 1995; Hoare, 1995; Ville, 1995).
The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is distributed
in India, Sri Lanka, Bengal, Burma, Thailand, Laos,
Vietnam, Kampuchea, Malaysia and China. It mainly
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: asterzhang@sina.com (L. Zhang).

inhabits tropical rainforests, monsoon forests, gullies,

and wooded valleys. It is estimated that the total population of Asian elephants is about 34,47053,720 (Santiapillai and Jackson, 1990).
Asian elephants occur in some fragmented evergreen
forests and seasonal rain forests in the extreme southern
part of Yunnan province in China. According to surveys in the 1970s, there were about 150, including 101 in
Xishuang Banna Reserve (Research group 1, Institute
of Zoology of Yunnan, 1976). At present, the wild
population is about 200250 (Wang, 1998). The main
threats to their survival are: (1) habitat alteration and
reduction, caused by increased human activities. Many
of the original forests were cut massively for commercial
prots before the logging ban promulgated in 1998.
Most of the gullies and valleys were reclaimed to plant
rubber trees or other crops since the 1970s; and (2) illegal hunting. Seventeen wild elephants were poached
between 1979 and 1983. The last report of poaching was
of another 16 wild elephants killed in Xishuang Banna
in 1994 (Zhang, 1999).
Simao lies in southwest Yunnan province and to the
north of Xishuang Banna nature reserve. Ye Xiang

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PII: S0006-3207(02)00335-X

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L. Zhang, N. Wang / Biological Conservation 112 (2003) 453459

Shan, a mountain area in Simao, was once known as

Wild Elephant Mountain, because it was home to so
many elephants. Changes in climate, growth of the
human population and hunting nally forced them out
but now, after an absence of more than 16 years, the
elephants are back (Zhang, 2000). Since 1992, there
have been wild elephants in groups or alone in Simao,
and incidences of elephants injuring people, destroying
houses and feeding on the villagers crops have been
reported frequently since then. With the increased elephant densities over the past 8 years, expanding agricultural areas threaten to worsen the elephant/human
conict. Locals use drum beating, noise of engines, re,
lamplight and even deep ditches to discourage elephants
from entering their farmlands and villages. These are
typical methods in other countries with elephant problems (Sukumar and Gadgil, 1988; Ngure, 1995;
OConnell-Rodwell et al., 2000). Asian elephants in
Simao, like African elephants in Caprivi (OConnellRodwell et al., 2000), become aggressive toward human
beings.

2. Methods
We used the participatory rural appraisal (PRA),
rapid rural appraisal (RRA) tools and interviews to do
the research in Simao area. PRA and RRA are stressed,
to encourage local peoples participation, which is now
widely advocated and documented as a philosophy and
mode in development and conservation (Chambers,
1994).
For collecting basic information on habitat and other
related parameters of elephants in Simao, we followed
standard data sheets prepared in advance in consultation with Dr. Vivek Menon of Wildlife Trust of India
and Dr. Surendra Verma of Asian Elephant Conservation and Research Centre, Bangalore, India. For habitat
survey we made transects through the elephant habitat
and collected data on vegetation type, food species,
habitat disturbances, population status, frequency of
elephant sightings and other wildlife sightings reported
from the area. For human/elephant conict we interviewed villagers in and around the elephant habitat. All
transect locations and villages have been recorded
through GPS. Group meetings were also organized in
the villages and with the local forest ocials to get
comprehensive information regarding the elephants and
conict status. Meeting with the forest ocials was
important for making future management strategies to
deal with Asian elephants in the area.
Data were also collected by means of a questionnaire
pertaining to sources of income, agricultural practices,
and problems with crop destruction by elephants and
the locals unprompted methods of deterrence. The data
of crop damage collected included details of ownership,

location and situation, crops grown, actual damage to

each crop, period of damage and frequency of damage
from six key communities that were located in or near
the main habitat of a ve-elephant herd in Simao during
the years 19962000.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Asian elephants and their habitat in Simao
The Asian elephant is a protected species in China.
Historically, Asian elephants once lived in the Yellow
River area. Due to climate changes, human population
increases and many other reasons, the number of Asian
elephants in China gradually declined. To ensure the
existence of the elephant in China, successful eorts
have to be made to protect the species and its only
habitat in China. The population has been estimated at
less than 300, but very few studies have been done of
this population of Asian elephants in China. There is
very poor information regarding the movements and
habitat uses of this population. A group of a few elephants has been re-recorded in the Simao country since
1992 after a gap of about 16 years. Based on this study,
the number of elephants in Simao varies from single
individuals to 24. This group of Asian elephants in
Simao country is responsible for large-scale crop and
property damage in nearby villages.
Based on our eld study, a group of ve female elephants, three adults and two juveniles, has settled down
in Simao County, mainly in Nanping and Cuiyun
Township, since 1996. The Simao Forestry Bureau and
our local elephant population-monitoring team marked
out the roaming area of wild elephants in Simao. The
areas covered 653.4 km2, including 17 communities with
88 villages. Another two groups of elephants wandered
across the border of Simao and Xishuang Banna. The
number of these two groups is 19, but due to the low
frequency of appearance and much less damage, they
did not attract peoples attention very much. They may
settle in Simao for its favourable natural conditions,
and they might be a potential problem for local
communities.
Most of the time wild elephants stayed away from
villages where people lived. Based on the farming
calendars, village maps and other PRA tools, we found
that elephants were mostly roaming around the farmland, fruit tree and bamboo elds, for they preferred
bamboo, banana, rice, corn etc. The main habitat the
ve elephant herd frequently used in Simao was 9.73
km2. The habitat includes three core areas as the foraging sites nearby Simao city, and the elephants use them
circularly during the year (Table 1).
Altogether, 50 tracks have been made through the
forested area of the elephant bearing areas of Simao

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L. Zhang, N. Wang / Biological Conservation 112 (2003) 453459

Table 1
The information of three core areas in the main habitat used by elephants in Simao
Location

BoE

Manxieba

Lanniba

Area (km2)
Human population in the area (per km2)
Average during of stay in the area (days/month)
Average time between two visits (days)
Habitat carrying capacity (days/km2)

3.65
194.0
6.0
10.0
1.6

2.79
71.7
4.5
17.0
1.6

3.29
64.1
6.0
11.5
1.8

country. Almost all habitat areas are more or less disturbed and fragmented. As reported by villagers in
Banana valley, one of the main elephant bearing areas,
before 1984 very little area was used for crops. With the
increasing human population, people began to clear
more areas for crops. The result was degradation and
fragmentation of the habitat, which has caused more
intensive crop and property damage in one area close to
the hills. The habitat is evergreen and in most cases,
disturbed. Average DBH (diameter at breast height) of
trees is not more than 30 cm in most areas. In evergreen
forest very few elephant food plants exist and very few
species of plants have been identied as elephant food in
the area (only 19 species of plants were found by our
eld team as elephant food in the wild in Simao). Most
of the hill slopes, which face villages, have been heavily
degraded and used for cultivating crops such as pineapple, banana, coee, citrus and others. Lower level
slopes, with a good water supply are used for paddy
cultivation. In the hills tree felling seems to be common
in almost all elephant bearing areas. On higher altitude
hills pine is dominant, but most of the pine trees are
used for the collection of pine wood oil, and the trees
are susceptible to windfall in a strong wind. Elephants
regularly use the natural depressions and streams
between the hills as their routes between valleys and
hills.
3.2. The communities in the habitat of Asian elephant, in
Simao
In 1958, the Chinese government started its census
register system. The census has shown that farmers
lives are tied to their land on which they depend for a

living. Damage to crops would have a great impact on

their life (Table 2). Most of the farmers still use original
farming methods. County and townships are the lowest
administration levels in China, and the community oces act as middleman between the government and
farmers. They receive the claims, compute the damages
and provide the compensation to farmers.
3.3. The damage caused by elephants and local farmers
attitude towards wild elephant
The elephants in Simao have accidentally killed three
people, and one farmer has been injured, since 1999.
Although deaths are very rare, they scare people and
intensify humanelephant conict.
In all villages, wheat, rice and corn are the main
aected crops in open elds, and maize and banana are
the most aected crops on hill slopes. As it seems that
there is less natural food in the evergreen forest elephant
areas, wheat and rice seem to be the preferred food
when these crops are available. Villagers grow bananas
on side hills and use it as food for livestock throughout
the year. Domestic pigs mainly depend upon these
banana trees. Villagers complained that all banana
elds are aected by the elephants depredation (Fig. 1).
Statistics from Simao Fauna & Flora Management
Committee showed that, by end of 1999, 29.3 ha rice,
16.3 ha corn, 8.9 ha bamboo, 18.2 ha banana, 9.1 ha
peanuts and beans, 4.7 ha pineapple and 8.5 ha litchi
were destroyed by elephant. Total economic losses
2,600,000 yuan RMB (or US$314,600) between 1996
and 1999 (Fig. 2).
In many mountainous villages where elephant
encroachment most often happens, the living standard

Table 2
The rural economic data of six key communities in the study area (by the end of 2000)
Community

Family
(N)

Population
(N)

Area of
farmland (ha)

Annual income
(US$ per family)

Damage claims caused by elephants

(% of annual income)

Shitoushan
Xiaohaizi
Guo maishan
Shangzhai
Dong zhai
Hejia zhai

25
45
65
53
31
82

109
201
271
223
131
335

7.9
56.0
22.9
28.3
12.5
52.8

141.7
113.0
66.8
157.3
143.5
160.6

28
34
32
45
41
48

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L. Zhang, N. Wang / Biological Conservation 112 (2003) 453459

Fig. 1. Major aected crops in elephant bearing areas of Simao country.

Fig. 2. Cost of crop raiding by elephants from 1996 to 2000 representing data from six key communities in Nanping township that incurred
damages.

is still extremely low (see Table 2). These indigenous

people have depended on the wildlife for their livelihood
for generations. They resent the fact that the Simao
government has banned hunting and are unhappy with
the eorts to protect wildlife that could cause bodily
injury and crop damage. Although most of them have
traditionally looked upon the elephant as good luck for
generations, many locals mentioned that the elephants
are of no use to us. If the government wants to protect
elephants, please put the animals into the zoo. In one
interview, some people even said: If nobody can solved
the problem for us, we will kill the elephants, and villagers can take turns to serve the penalty.
3.4. Methods used to solve the problem by local people
3.4.1. Sound
In southern India people use a loudspeaker broadcasting special noise to drive away wild elephants, and
this method is ecient (Sukumar, 1986). The noise was
also the rst thing to come to the farmers mind. When
elephants come, they start the engine of a tractor or 30
40 people get together and begin shouting at the elephant. And at rst this worked quite well, but soon elephants found out there was no real danger and have
become more audacious. This method may also make

the elephants enraged. Some villagers told us that an

angry elephant had broken a tractor in the Manxieba
community.
3.4.2. Light and res
Light is one of the most common methods used to
scare away elephants in India. In the Dong zhai and
Shang zhai communities, farmers lit lamps all around
the village throughout the night when animals came.
But elephants see through the tricks in a very short
time.
3.4.3. Trenches
Only one farmer in Nanping Township took action to
protect his own bamboo eld by building trenches. He
hired some people to dig a 2 m  2 m trench around his
bamboo eld. The farmer told us that he couldnt think
of anything else to do to protect his land, and he wasnt
sure if the trenches could work. Originally he wanted to
collaborate with his neighbour, but his neighbour didnt
have enough money to invest in the project.
Trenching is labour-intensive. Malaysian elephants
have been known to step over the 2.3 m trenches. Furthermore, in humid areas they use their body weight to
make the walls of the trench collapse rendering it nonfunctional (Blair & Noor, 1980).

L. Zhang, N. Wang / Biological Conservation 112 (2003) 453459

3.4.4. Man-made salt pond

Two man-made concrete salt ponds (2.5 m1.5 m
each) were built in two valleys of the Manxieba and
Lanniba area, two of the three core habitats of the elephants in Simao and far away from villages. One ton of
salt was put into each pond. Several reports showed that
elephants frequently visited the villages to search for
salt. They chew salt bags, quilts and even hollowware.
Our eld team observed that the ve-elephant herd was
found the salt pond at Lanniba one and half months
after villagers nished the job. There was no report
about elephants entering the village after that.
3.5. Measures that have been taken to improve
elephants habitat by the government
The Simao government and forestry bureau
announced a 3-year hunting ban on 1 March 1991. They
had announced another 5-year hunting ban in 1996 and
2001. More than 20,000 civil used hunting ries were
conscated by the Simao government in 1998. At the
same time, the forestry bureau made strenuous eorts to
promote the use of methane gas for fuel purposes. That
made re wood usage drop from 710 m3 to 1 m3 of
each household per year. In 1996, the reforestry program started. The Simao peoples congress had issued a
Management Regulations of 178 square-kilometer
Forest around Simao area and a series of measures
have been taken in recent years to improve the natural
habitat conservation for elephants in the Simao region.
3.6. Compensation
No. 67 Document from the Yunnan provincial government (1998) pertained to Regulations of Compensation for Peoples Life and Property Damaged by
Wildlife. It made it clear that the compensation should
be given to farmers whose property had been damaged
by elephants, and that the compensation is provided by
local governments. The Simao Forestry Bureau has
20,000 yuan (or US$2420) especially for the compensation each year, but only Nanping Townships economic
losses had reached 650,000 yuan (or US$78,650) per
year. The compensation given to the farmers covered
less than one tenth of the damage caused by elephants in
many villages in Simao.
3.7. Can integrated elephant habitat conservation and
rural community development projects reduce human
elephant conict in Simao?

457

parts: a community development fund, environment

education program and elephant habitat preservation.
The micro credit fund was introduced to eight
selected villages from ve key communities as a pilot
project area. By providing US$100 as an agricultural
grant to each family involved in the project, IFAW
encourages local farmers to actively seek alternative
farming and to reduce agricultural activities in the forest. According to the fund, local families joined Corporation Fund groups voluntarily; each group
including at least ve families. The members of each
group elected their own director, accountant and cashier
to manage the fund. All group members worked out a
Management Regulation of Corporation Fund together with the project sta. During the process of building the groups, every group set up its unique
environment protection measures such as, dont
deforest, dont hunt wild animals and participate
in the community planning to reforest etc. Meanwhile,
IFAW promised that if group members obey the principles and management regulations of the fund, they
could use the fund indenitely. If any member in the
group violated the regulations, hurts elephants or
deforests, the project oce had the power to withdraw
the fund or dissolve the group. By the end of July 2000,
330,600 yuan RMB (US$40,000) had been provided to
the micro credit fund by IFAW. Over 400 families, 98
percent of the families in the pilot area, had joined
Corporation Fund groups voluntarily.
Environmental education components of the project,
which was being conducted in eight villages, include
farming techniques, human safety awareness, animal
protection and habitat conservation. Habitat preservation programs in the area have resulted in identifying
elephant food patterns, designing a new protected area
in Simao and building ecological corridors between
Simao and nearby Xishuang Banna national park.
During a recent project evaluation, IFAW and its partner in project implementation, the Simao Forestry
Bureau, were gratied to nd that the rate of return plus
interest for the micro-credit loans has been 100%. Many
families have successfully shifted to alternative farming
to ease the pressure on the forest. The farmers attitudes
toward wildlife habitat conservation have also changed
from being on the verge of hate killing to attempting
to coexist with elephants. It was indicated that all of
these were good measures to enhance farmers tolerance
to the damages caused by elephants.

4. Conclusion
A pilot elephant habitat conservation and local community development project named living with the
elephant was supported by The International Fund for
Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Forestry Department
of Yunnan Province. The project is divided into three

In Asia, eld studies on the ecology of elephants and

their crop raiding have been conducted for years (Sukumar, 1989, 1990; Ishwaran, 1993). How to restrict wildlife
habitat fragmentation by human activities and reduce

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L. Zhang, N. Wang / Biological Conservation 112 (2003) 453459

the cost of damage caused by elephants became a key

challenge, but traditional methods of deterring elephants
have failed or are disputed in many countries (Blair and
Noor, 1981; Santiapillai and Suprahman, 1985; Sukumar, 1991; Lahiri-Choudhury, 1991). In many African
countries, there has been established a system of
returning benets from wildlife resources to rural
communities within CBNRMS (community based natural resource management schemes), which were
designed to help motivate people in rural areas to protect wildlife resources outside protected areas and to
discourage poaching inside protected areas (Lewis et
al., 1990; Brown and Jones, 1994; OConnell-Rodwell
et al., 2000).
In order to ensure the continued existence of Asian
elephants in China, it is important to identify and
understand their habitat structure, continuity of the
habitat, availability of food, movement patterns of the
herds, herd structures and most importantly, the attitudes of people from nearby villages toward this species.
The last point is very important because of the growing
human/elephant conict in many areas. This threatens
to erode local support for conservation in areas where
human life and property are at high risk of destruction
by wild elephants. The escalating and erce competition
between Asias growing human population and elephants will inevitably increase unless the problem is
assessed and dealt with systematically.
Though the group of elephants in Simao is small, the
conservation program for this group is justied because
the elephant is a key species in the forest. It is now a
globally endangered species and this species is now at
high risk of extinction in the very near future because of
the continuous destruction of habitat and large scale
poaching for ivory (Ville, 1995; Kangwana, 1995;
Menon and Kumar, 1998). Simao has been an elephant
habitat area for centuries and after a long gap the elephant has reappeared in this area. In order to protect
the species, disturbances to the habitat should be minimized by adjustment in agricultural practices. Management authorities should earmark some areas for
elephant conservation, even though they may be good
agricultural areas. Some other areas may have to be
chosen for agricultural use where chances of elephant
visits are less. When one area is developed and managed
for elephant conservation work it is automatically
managed for biodiversity conservation as the elephant is
a keystone species. IFAWs present method for living
with the elephant has to be further explored, with a
little adjustment to adapt to prevailing conditions, and
this can be achieved through a proper study, as well as
gathering knowledge and experiences on management
practices at the local level. All possible eorts should be
made to protect this species in this area and management authorities should enact a comprehensive management plan for the conservation of the elephant in the

Simao area, with the goal of minimizing the conict

between humans and elephants.

Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the Asian elephant conservation and community development program of
International Fund for Animal Welfare (#040600022017). We are grateful to Dr. Rathin Barman,
Bing Hao, Yu Du, Yi Lin, Yigong Cao, Xingbo Zhang
and Heping Wang for the data collection and eldwork.
We thank Ying Yan, Grace GeGabriel, Vivek Menon,
Caitlin OConnell-Rodwell, Chun Li, Yaqiong Chen
and Yaqiao Zhao for their comments and suggestions,
and Scott Gabriel for reviewing the manuscript.

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