The Herd Heads North

In March 2020, sixteen wild Asian elephants migrated from Xishuangbanna Prefecture to Pu'er City, then continued north. In December 2020, Pu'er City welcomed a new baby elephant, bringing the number of wild Asian elephants to seventeen. On April 16, 2021, the seventeen elephants migrated from Mojiang County in Pu'er City to Yuanjiang County in Yuxi City. On April 24, two elephants returned to Mojiang County, while the other fifteen continued from Yuanjiang County to Baoxiu Town in Shiping County, Honghe Prefecture, arriving in Eshan County, Yuxi City, that same day. The fifteen wild Asian elephants soon became a “celebrity herd.” One of them was a young elephant with part of its trunk missing, so the herd was dubbed the “Broken Trunk Family.” But if only one elephant had a broken trunk, why name the entire herd after that one flaw? Why?