Early warnings

Many rural residents in Pu'er have become increasingly familiar with the elephants, as the animals frequently visit their home areas.

Ding Chunlin, from Dazhai village, Yixiang township, said, "We have got used to seeing the elephants arrive."

Although adult elephants are huge, they can move at up to 36 kilometers per hour.

Ding said: "This means it can take them just over two hours to arrive at our village from the Wild Elephant Valley in the Xishuangbanna reserve. They often come to avoid the weather in August and September, when Xishuangbanna is hot and the farmland in Dazhai is covered in corn and banana trees.

"I saw a wild elephant for the first time when I was around 10 years old, when a lone animal came to my village," the 44-year-old said.

In August, roaming elephants remained in Dazhai for 19 days, before heading further north. As one of four villagers tasked with monitoring the herd, Ding said early warnings were received before the animals arrived in the village on Aug 19, and residents have remained on alert.

The herd regularly started to roam at about 7 pm. The elephants first bathed in fishponds before feeding and playing with one another until 1 am to 2 am. The areas they chose to rest in were usually flat and surrounded by scattered trees and creeks, Ding said.

He added that Asian elephants are clever but naughty. They often spray water on each other through their trunks, and Ding has frequently seen them striding across tea plantations.

Some villagers erected wooden poles around their fishponds to prevent wild animals entering. The poles were too short to stop adult elephants, but posed difficulties for the young animals when the herd arrived to bathe. The adults solved the problem by simply pulling the poles out with their trunks, Ding said.

"As long as we keep a safe distance from them, the elephants will not attack us," he said, adding that he can now judge if there are elephants in areas less than 500 meters away by sniffing the air.

"The elephants have become part of our life and work," Ding added.