Elephant Culture Matter for China’s Asian Elephants Conservation

Authors

  • Yongjing Tang Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Zhengling Li Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Guilian Jiang Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Ting Lv Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Lei Zhang Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Wenlan Zhao Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Gaofan Zhu Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Mingyong Chen Yunnan Asian Elephant Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Ministry of Education, Kunming 650500, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jzr.v2i2.2072

Abstract

Traditional anthropogenic impacts such as hunting, using as war-elephant, trading of ivory, paying tribute to the imperial court and so on, were once thought to be directly responsible for the rapid decline of Asian elephants in China. But in Yunnan Province, China, a unique human factor such as the traditional elephant culture of local ethnic minorities, is an important factor in the conservation of Asian elephants. In these areas, we investigated by means of village interviews, field surveys and data collection, the results show that the elephant culture of ethnic minorities has a great impact on people's thoughts and behaviors, these traditional culture and belief (that mean taking elephant as the God, holding elephant as a belief, worshipping elephant and praise it) urges people to actively protect elephants and avoid more human-elephant conflicts. To enhance the public awareness of Asian elephant conservation, the Chinese Government or international environmental organizations should give higher attention and support to these elephant cultures. 

Keywords:

Asian elephant, Elephant cultures, Ethnoecology, Conservation Biology

References

[1] Liu P, Wen H, Lin L, et al. Habitat evaluation for Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Lincang: Conservation planning for an extremely small population of elephants in China[J]. Biological Conservation 2016, (198): 113-121.

[2] Hou Y J, Zhang J. Animal reduction and extinction due to human social needs: a case study of elephants[J]. Journal of Shaanxi Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 2007, 36(5): 17-21.

[3] Xu Z F. The effects of paying tribute to the imperial court in the history on rhinoceros' extinction and elephant's endangerment in southern Yunnan[J]. Biodiversity, 2000, 8(1): 112-119.

[4] Chen M Y, Yang S J, Liu L Y, et al. The relationship between elephant and human in China[J]. Forest Inventory and Planning, 2006, 31(4): 114-117.

[5] Zhao Y, Jin K. Distribution, population, habitat status and population management of Asian elephant[J]. World Forestry Research,2008,31(2):25-30.

[6] Zhao L P. The “Elephant Warshipping Festival” of the Wa people along the Nangun River in Cangyuan[J]. Journal of Lincang Education College, 2005, 14(3): 84-85.

[7] Yan F. The ancient civilization of tropical forests - on the elephant culture of Dai people in Yunnan[J]. Yunnan Social Sciences, 2007,(1): 89-94.

[8] Lai Q K, Cao G X, Fan Z Q. A study on the current status and promoting approaches social forestry in National Nangun River Nature Reserve and surrounding areas[J]. Journal of Southwest Forestry College, 1997, 17(4): 29-39.

[9] Du Y H, Yin L, Xue D Y. The influence of Dai Theravāda Buddhism culture on biodiversity in Xishuangbanna[J]. Minzu Tribune, 2014, 351(7): 64-68.

[10] Li H M, Yin H Z. Ecological wisdom in the traditional culture of Lincang Wa nationality[J]. Journal of Pu'er University,2016, 32(4): 1-4.

[11] Feng B Y. The Water Splashing Festival and Elephant-foot Drum dance of Dai nationality[J]. Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute (Music & Performance), 2008, 115(1): 116-121.

[12] Dickman A J. Complexities of conflict: the importance of considering social factors for effectively resolving human-wildlife conflict[J]. Animal Conservation, 2010,13(5): 458-466.

[13] Li J W. On the essence and countermeasures of the conflict between human and Asian elephant[J]. Inquiry into Economic Issues,2009,(3):141-145.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 2 , Iss. 2 (April 2020)

Article Type

Articles

License

Copyright and Licensing

The authors shall retain the copyright of their work but allow the Publisher to publish, copy, distribute, and convey the work.

Journal of Zoological Research publishes accepted manuscripts under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Authors who submit their papers for publication by Journal of Zoological Research agree to have the CC BY-NC 4.0 license applied to their work, and that anyone is allowed to reuse the article or part of it free of charge for non-commercial use. As long as you follow the license terms and original source is properly cited, anyone may copy, redistribute the material in any medium or format, remix, transform, and build upon the material.

License Policy for Reuse of Third-Party Materials

If a manuscript submitted to the journal contains the materials which are held in copyright by a third-party, authors are responsible for obtaining permissions from the copyright holder to reuse or republish any previously published figures, illustrations, charts, tables, photographs, and text excerpts, etc. When submitting a manuscript, official written proof of permission must be provided and clearly stated in the cover letter.
The editorial office of the journal has the right to reject/retract articles that reuse third-party materials without permission.

Journal Policies on Data Sharing

We encourage authors to share articles published in our journal to other data platforms, but only if it is noted that it has been published in this journal.