When talking about elephants in China, one cannot ignore the renowned Wild Elephant Valley. Named for its abundant wild elephant population, legend has it that there are two to three hundred. Before this, almost everyone who wanted to see wild Asian elephants firsthand visited Wild Elephant Valley. In fact, researchers have initially estimated the Asian elephant population in the Mengyang Nature Reserve in Xishuangbanna to be between 80 and 150 individuals, and have observed a total of 46 Asian elephants appearing in the Wild Elephant Valley area over several consecutive years.
Wild Elephant Valley: A tourist attraction in China where visitors can see Asian elephants.
However, why do elephant herds frequently appear in the small area of Mengyang Nature Reserve—Wild Elephant Valley? It turns out that Asian elephants' favorite food is bamboo, and the area surrounding Wild Elephant Valley is covered with large bamboo forests. In addition, like most herbivores, Asian elephants have a salt-loving habit. They have difficulty obtaining enough salt from plants, so they absorb salt from natural saline ponds (locally known as "nitrate ponds") to meet their nutritional needs. In order to develop tourism, Wild Elephant Valley has been releasing salt into the forest since the 1990s to artificially attract wild elephants to search for salt.
