650 Conservation news There are twomain issues for the conservation of gibbons


on Borneo. Firstly, although the Bornean Hylobates muelleri and Bornean white-bearded Hylobates albibarbis gibbons are on the Indonesian protected species list, the northern gray Hylobates funereus and Abbott’s gray Hylobates abbotti gibbons are not listed. Secondly, these four species occur mostly outside protected areas, on private and community- owned lands, and thus there needs to be multi-stake- holder engagement for the development of a conservation strategy. To improve the conservation of Indonesia’s gibbons,


Perhimpunan Ahli dan Pemerhati Primata Indonesia, with the support of the Indonesian government, plans to design a policy brief and conduct a conservation planning workshop.


ARIF SETIAWAN ( orcid.org/0000-0002-6090-906X) and EKA CAHYANINGRUM ( orcid.org/0000-0001-7850-9921) SwaraOwa, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia E-mail a.setiawan@swaraowa.org


MARSYA CHRISTYANTI SIBARANI ( orcid.org/0000-0003-0942- 139X) Tambora Muda Indonesia, Bogor, Indonesia


RAHAYU OKTAVIANI ( orcid.org/0000-0002-8272-5245) Javan Gibbon Research and Conservation Project, Bogor, Indonesia


IKE NURJUITANAYASILANA ( orcid.org/0000-0001-9527-0449) Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia


MOHAMAD ARIF RIFQI Primate Research Centre, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia


AFRIZAL MAULANA ABDI ( orcid.org/0000-0002-3185-3394) and ISMAIL AGUNG RUSMADIPRAJA ( orcid.org/0000-0001- 5298-0010) Yayasan IAR Indonesia, Bogor, Indonesia


DIDIK PRASETYO ( orcid.org/0000-0001-5486-2624) Fakultas Biologi Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia


This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.


The roaming wild Asian elephants of Yunnan, China, pose a challenge to conservation


In early 2020, 16 wild Asian elephants Elephas maximus,an iconic species of the tropical forest of South-east Asia and a First Category Key Protected Wild Animal Species in China, left the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, on the China–Laos–Myanmar border, and headed northwards through a heavily modified


anthropogenic landscape (see map below).The herd reached Pu’er City by March 2020,andMojiangCountybyDecember 2020, where a calf was born. On 17 April 2021,the now 17 ele- phants reached Yuanjiang County, from where two of them returned toMojiangCounty. In lateApril, these two elephants were stillwandering in theNing’erCounty of Pu’er City. By 27 May the herd of 15 elephants had reached Eshan County, only 120km from Kunming City. By the mid 20th century the Asian elephant had been


almost extirpated in China as large areas of tropical forest were logged. Most of the remaining elephants lived in the 24,000 km2 Xishuangbanna Reserve, established in 1986. In the early 1990s, these elephants, which had grown to a population of c. 300, expanded their range northwards to Pu’er City, with some elephants settling in this hilly land- scape interspersed with farmlands, tea gardens and second- ary forests. Elephants from the Reserve are now apparently heading even further north, causing considerable distur- bance as they journey. The wildlife management authority is monitoring the elephants with drones, where necessary warning local residents of the impending arrival of the herd. The herd has now moved a total of c. 500 km and is still on the move, reaching Jining District of Kunming City on 1 June. Meanwhile, another herd, of 17 elephants, left the Mengyang area of Xishuanbanna Reserve and approached the Xishuanbanna Botanic Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on 23 May 2021, where elephants were extirpated 70 years ago. These elephants are foraging in the part of the Garden used for ex situ conservation of rare crops. Part of the Garden has been closed and staff are monitoring the elephants with drones. These two herds of Asian elephants pose a new challenge


for conservation in China. In addition to investigating why elephants are leaving Xishuangbanna National Nature Re- serve and to considering a new action plan for Asian ele- phant conservation in the country, we need to ensure the safety of people in the areas through which the elephants pass, and that of these roaming elephants.


ZHIGANG JIANG ( orcid.org/0000-0003-2154-8588) Institute of Zoology, and College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. E-mail jiangzg@ioz.ac.cn


CHUNWANG LI ( orcid.org/0000-0002-1315-248X) Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China


CHENCHEN DING ( orcid.org/0000-0001-6706-7996) Beijing Normal University, China, and Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China


This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.


Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 649–655 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000879


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