This Day, That Year

Item from April 10, 1996, in China Daily: The world's youngest and the fifth artificially bred Asian elephant accepts a snack in Yunnan province's Kunming Zoo, where the first base for the artificial breeding of Asian elephants was set up.

China has made great efforts to protect its Asian elephant population and habitats, with an estimated 300 wild Asian elephants in Southwest China's Yunnan province. In the 1980s, the province had about only 100 left in the wild.

In March, researchers from the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center in the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture used artificial breeding techniques to breed a baby Asian elephant. The center was set up in 2009 to protect the first-class national protected animal, and three Asian elephants have been successfully born through natural mating.

As the population grows, a lack of food in winter sometimes forces the elephants to seek food on village farmland.

According to the provincial forestry bureau, more than 48,000 cases of wild elephants causing chaos were reported in Yunnan from 2011 to 2015, resulting in 18 deaths, 27 injuries and economic losses of about 99 million yuan ($14 million).

To ease the human-elephant conflict, food zones have been established between the animals' habitats and villages. The zones, which now cover a total of 3 square kilometers, are filled with things elephants like to eat, such as bananas and plantain.