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.