A rescued Asian elephant recently reintroduced to nature has shown signs of successfully merging into a wild elephant herd, a milestone achievement of this reintroduction experiment.

On Thursday evening, the elephant named A Bao, wearing a collar that sends positioning data, was spotted drinking water and taking a bath together with 34 other wild elephants in Wild Elephant Valley located in Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to the Asian elephant protection and management center in Xishuangbanna.

Afterwards, the elephants returned together to a rainforest in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve.

The fact that A Bao has been moving about with other wild elephants indicates that he has gradually adapted to the wilderness and integrated into the wild elephant herd, said Chen Fei, director of the Asian elephant research center under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Chen said this case paves the way for the future reintroduction of other individual elephants into the wild.

In 2018, the then 12-year-old A Bao became estranged from his herd and had to be rescued. Researchers in July 2022 officially launched the pilot project of returning the rescued Asian elephant to nature.

In May this year, A Bao was released into the wild following years of meticulous training and preparation -- marking China's first successful case of reintroducing a rescued Asian elephant to nature. 

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