Wild Elephants Valley,Xishuangbanna

Asian Elephants versus African Elephants
China has traditionally been a breeding grounds for the Asian elephant (aka Indian elephant), which is somewhat smaller than its African cousin. Because of naturally-occurring as well as man-made changes in the wild elephant's habitat over time, there are today only about 300 Asian elephants living and multiplying in the free on the virgin forest lands of Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve. The Asian elephant represents the largest land mammal native to China.

Compared to the African elephant, the Asian elephant weighs between 3-6 metric tons (the African elephant, between 4-7½ metric tons), has two cranial bulges with an indent in the center (the African elephant has only a single cranial bulge and thus no indent), has small, square-ish, slightly droopy ears ('the ear of the African elephant is shaped like the African continent', it is said; in any case, it slopes back and slightly upwards and outwards, masking the animal's neck when seen in profile), has a lower lip that protrudes markedly and is tapered (the lower lip of the African elephant is rounder and hardly protrudes at all), and lastly, the Asian elephant has tusks that are generally shorter and lighter, even when they on occasion can reach the same length as those of the African elephant. Moreover, the tusks of the female Asian elephant are often only embryonic by comparison, and sometimes completely lacking (the tusks of the male are generally larger for both species*).

With its richly varied flora and fauna, its many streams and waterholes, and with the added state protection that the reserve enjoys, Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve is truly an ideal habitat for the many wild animals and birds that make their home here.

* The two species cannot cross-breed - at least not successfully. The only known example of such a cross-breeding occurred in 1978 at Chester Zoo in the UK, and not by design. The staff had noticed that the African bull elephant, Jumbolino, flirted and eventually mated with the Asian cow elephant, Sheba, but no one expected a pregnancy to develop, since the two animals are not only of different species, they are of different genuses. In nature, cross-breeding between two different species generally leads to a hybrid (i.e., cannot reproduce), like the mule (a cross between the horse and the donkey), while cross-breeding between two different genuses was believed to be impossible. And indeed, it may very well be the case that even though offspring, by freak chance, may result via cross-breeding between different genuses, it cannot survive, as happened, alas, in the case of Motty, son of Jumbolino and Sheba, who died only two weeks after he was born.