历史时期中国野生亚洲象的反常迁徙及其生态环境意义

Wild Asian Elephants'Abnormal Migration in Historical China and its Significance in EcologicalEnvironment

历史时期野生亚洲象曾广泛分布于黄河及长江中下游地区,其中豫北太行山南麓、山东丘陵、淮阳丘陵、两湖平原周边山地是几个重要的野象栖息地。在商周之际、南北朝时期、北宋初年等时段,这些栖息地周围多次发生的野象反常迁徙事件,具有重要的生态环境变迁意义。长期来看,大部分野象反常迁徙并与人类发生冲突的事件发生于人类农业开发扰动甚至侵占其栖息空间的背景下,是人象关系走向不可调和的标志;短期来看,战乱引发的流民迁徙、极端自然灾害等偶发因素也可能影响野象的生存状态。这些反常迁徙事件还可为解决以往存在争议的历史时期中国野象分布及迁徙等相关问题提供进一步的线索。

Asian elephants(Elephas maximus)were widely distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River in the historical period,among which there were several typical habi-tats,such as the southern foot of Taihang Mountain in northern Henan,Shandong Hills,Huaiyang Hills,and the mountains around the Hubei and Hunan Plain.There were three periods when records on wild elephants'abnormal migration appeared intensively around these habitats,about 3000 years ago(the turn of the Shang and Zhou dynasties),5th-6"centuries(the Northern and Southern dynasties),and the 10"century(the early Northern Song dynasty).The elephants'migration could reflect significant ecological environmental changes in these areas.In the long term,most of the incidents of wild elephants'abnormal migration and conflicts with humans occurred in the context of human agricultural development which disturbed or even occupied their habitats,and could be taken as the significance that the human-elephant relationship had become irrec-oncilable.Some occasional factors such as refugee migration caused by wars and extreme natural disasters might also impact the elephants'living state in the short term.Combined with the above understanding,some issues related to the historical distribution and migration of wild elephants in China were further dis-cussed which remain controversial in previous studies.