This aerial photo taken on July 19, 2023 shows wild Asian elephants foraging at a paddy rice field in Jiangcheng County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

The elephant herd that gained widespread recognition for its epic journey through southwest China's Yunnan Province has welcomed four new babies over the past three years, indicating a healthy and thriving wild Asian elephant population, said local authorities on Monday.

In March 2020, the elephant herd, also dubbed China's "wandering elephants," left a forest nature reserve in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, and trekked about 500 km northwards to the provincial capital Kunming, arriving in June 2021. The herd then headed south again and finally returned to their original habitat in the Mengyang area of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve on Dec. 9, 2021.

Since returning to their homeland, the elephants have been in good health and their population continues to grow. The baby elephants are gradually maturing, learning survival skills such as foraging and sand bathing from their family members, said Wang Bin, head of the Asian elephant protection and management center in Xishuangbanna.

Currently, the wild elephant family has split into two groups. One group of 13 elephants still roams the Mengyang area, while the other group of seven elephants co-exists with 28 wild elephants from another family in Dadugang Township in the city of Jinghong.

"Taking the wandering family as representative, the frequent births of new babies and the splitting and merging of herds fully demonstrate that there is frequent communication between the local elephant groups, and they are reproducing healthily," said Chen Fei, director of the Asian elephant research center under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Asian elephants, a pivotal species in the rainforest ecosystem, are under first-class national protection in China. The elephants are mostly found across Yunnan.