Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - May 31, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Aerial shots of elephants walking in wild

Beijing, China - June 9, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yan Xun, senior engineer, China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA):
"This elephant herd, led by the head elephant, walked aimlessly without any preparation. In a sense, it was a rare unexpected event. Through observation over the past few days, we can tell that the herd is still walking aimlessly. Of course, with the assistance of people, the elephants changed their direction a little bit. Generally speaking, the elephant herd is currently stable and controllable, under the guidance of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the provincial government of Yunnan and with the aid of frontline headquarters and working groups."

Kunming City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - June 7, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Various of baby elephant trying to get out
4. Aerial shot of wild elephants lying down

Kunming City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - June 4-5, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Aerial shots of elephants on verge of forest
6. Elephants walking, drinking water; dust rising

Kunming City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - June 6, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Wild elephants walking in forest
8. Aerial shots of wild elephants eating

Beijing, China - June 9, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yan Xun, senior engineer, China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) (starting with shots 4-8):
"When leaving the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, the herd had 16 elephants, and later an elephant calf was born, bringing the number to 17. In April, two of them turned back halfway through the journey. As far as I know, the two that turned back are male. Just a few days ago, one more male elephant dropped out of the herd. From the current situation, these elephants left the herd without any purpose, and in my personal opinion, they may have left the herd voluntarily amid an adjustment to the population structure."

Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - May 31, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Aerial shot of elephants walking in wild
11. Various of adult elephant helping calf up from water-filled ditch

Beijing, China - June 9, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yan Xun, senior engineer, China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) (starting with shot 11/ending with shots 13-17):
"From the very beginning, I said that the elephant herd was wondering aimlessly. Judging from the current situation, it is an unexpected event, and I don't think it's a 'migration' like some media and experts said. Wild animals migrate for two major purposes, of which the first one is that individuals get together and migrate for finding more food or breeding, and the other one is to periodically migrate from one place to another. The movement of this elephant herd matches with neither of the two purposes. Firstly, there is more abundant food in the southern region than that in the north. Secondly, we haven't found any pregnant female in the herd so far. Instead, there are several elephant calves in suckling period. The long-distance travel under these circumstances should not be categorized as 'migration'."

Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. Aerial shots of elephants walking through woods
14. Elephant herd walking across street
15. Various of elephant calves playing in water
16. Various of elephant herd walking through woods

Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwest China - June 3-4, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
17. Aerial shots of elephants

Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Aerial shots of elephants walking

Beijing, China - June 9, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
19. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yan Xun, senior engineer, China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) (starting with shot 18/partially overlaid with shot 20/ending with shots 21):
"There are about three options in helping the elephant herd return to its original habitat. The first one is to help them correct the direction of travel, which will probably take a long time. The second one is to send them back to their habitat using vehicles, which will save a lot of time. The third one is to let the elephant herd walk freely till they return to their original habitat. The headquarters will make the final decision on which measure to take. Currently, the elephants are navigating on their own, while people are assisting and guiding them to their original habitat."

++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUDNBITE++
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
20. Various of elephants in nature reserve
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

Yuxi City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - May 28-29, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
21. Various of elephants eating

The aimless roaming of a herd of wild Asian elephants in southwest China's Yunnan Province should be regarded as an unexpected event rather than a migration, according to an expert on Wednesday.

In recent weeks, the herd of wild elephants wandered into the suburbs of Kunming in Yunnan after trekking more than 300 miles from a wildlife reserve, with millions of people tuning in on television and social media to watch their movements.

With the herd’s movements arousing global media attention, China Central Television (CCTV) interviewed a senior engineer of China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), Yan Xun, to explain the herd’s strange trip out of the nature reserve.

"This elephant herd, led by the head elephant, walked aimlessly without any preparation. In a sense, it was a rare unexpected event. Through observation over the past few days, we can tell that the herd is still walking aimlessly. Of course, with the assistance of people, the elephants changed their direction a little bit. Generally speaking, the elephant herd is currently stable and controllable, under the guidance of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, the provincial government of Yunnan and with the aid of frontline headquarters and working groups," said Yan.

The herd started off with 16 members, with three males leaving the group and heading back along the way, with one new calf born along the journey, Yan said.

"When leaving the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, the herd had 16 elephants, and later an elephant calf was born, bringing the number to 17. In April, two of them turned back halfway through the journey. As far as I know, the two that turned back are male. Just a few days ago, one more male elephant dropped out of the herd. From the current situation, these elephants left the herd without any purpose, and in my personal opinion, they may have left the herd voluntarily amid an adjustment to the population structure," said Yan.

Yan believes the herd’s long journey should be regarded as an unexpected event because it does not fit the main purposes of wild animal's migration - these being to find food or for breeding.

"From the very beginning, I said that the elephant herd was wondering aimlessly. Judging from the current situation, it is an unexpected event, and I don't think it's a 'migration' like some media and experts said. Wild animals migrate for two major purposes, of which the first one is that individuals get together and migrate for finding more food or breeding, and the other one is to periodically migrate from one place to another. The movement of this elephant herd matches with neither of the two purposes. Firstly, there is more abundant food in the southern region than that in the north. Secondly, we haven't found any pregnant female in the herd so far. Instead, there are several elephant calves in suckling period. The long-distance travel under these circumstances should not be categorized as 'migration'," said Yan.

There are three feasible options for authorities to help elephants return to their original habitat, as people are now guiding them to the right direction, according to Yan.

"There are about three options in helping the elephant herd return to its original habitat. The first one is to help them correct the direction of travel, which will probably take a long time. The second one is to send them back to their habitat using vehicles, which will save a lot of time. The third one is to let the elephant herd walk freely till they return to their original habitat. The headquarters will make the final decision on which measure to take. Currently, the elephants are navigating on their own, while people are assisting and guiding them to their original habitat," said Yan.

Forest officials said the northward-migrating elephants began their journey in March last year.

There's been plenty of speculation about why the elephants migrated, including the herd’s leader getting lost, or maybe their original habitat no longer being able to sustain them, or simply the changing habits of elephants.