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JUDY WOODRUFF: It's not a sight you 
see every day, a herd of elephants,

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leaving their home turf, making their way 
through Southwestern China, most recently

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stopping in a city of millions. But 
that is what's happening right now.

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William Brangham looks 
at their mysterious trek,

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and why they might have hit 
the road in the first place.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It's been an 
epic and highly unusual journey 
so far, more than 300 miles over

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the last year, across deserts, 
through forests, crossing busy 
city streets, navigating ditches.

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This herd of 15 Asian elephants is 
captivating China. Every step of

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their trek documented on state-run 
media, and seemingly everywhere 
on Chinese social media.

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The world can't seem to get 
enough of this trip, a trip to -- 
well, nobody quite knows where.

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They stop for naps, though the adults seem 
more tuckered out than their offspring.

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They eat corn in the fields, even 
try to break into power plants.

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But why are they on this 
journey? I asked conservation 
biologist Peter Leimgruber that

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very question at the Smithsonian's 
National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

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PETER LEIMGRUBER, Smithsonian's 
National Zoo: We don't have a 
clear answer, but I think that

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we have some guesses or ideas.

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Usually, these elephants

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move when they are being disturbed by 
people, or when they lose their habitat,

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or when they're trying to find 
food. So they might move out of 
the forest into the agriculture and

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find some food there. But they 
usually don't move distances 
that are as long as this.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Is that 
right? So, this - - the length 
of their journey is unusual?

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PETER LEIMGRUBER: That's the most 
unusual piece. So, it's very common

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for them to move into agriculture, 
but it's very unusual for elephants

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to move in a straight line distance 
for hundreds of miles or kilometers.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Leimgruber has 
studied Asian elephants for decades,

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and took us in for a closer look.

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So, the differences between 
an Asian elephant and

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the larger elephants people will see 
in Africa, what are the differences?

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PETER LEIMGRUBER: Oh, there 
are lots, so, first of all, 
the size. So these are between

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three and five tons, and an 
African elephant would be 
between five and seven tons,

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so it's quite a bit bigger. 
The head is shaped differently.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Still seems pretty big.

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(LAUGHTER) 
PETER LEIMGRUBER: Yes, it's very big, yes.

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(LAUGHTER) 
PETER LEIMGRUBER: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: These elephants 
are endangered. There are only 
around 30,000 to 50,000 left, down

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from 100,000 at the beginning of 
the 20th century, and a lot of 
that is because of human expansion.

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PETER LEIMGRUBER: We can show 
with our research that this 
expansion of human activity is

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further and further restricting the 
movements of individual animals,

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as well as entire populations of animals.

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And there's a limit, right? 
So, if you keep restricting 
their movement, eventually,

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these populations, they just 
have to decline. There's just 
not enough space for them to

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move enough and find enough food and 
do all the things they need to do.

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WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the 
wandering herd in China,

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authorities are working carefully to 
keep both people and elephants safe.

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They're trying to guide this group away 
from cities, and back to a safer home.

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For the "PBS NewsHour" in Washington, 
D.C., I'm William Brangham.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And we 
just hope they stay safe.

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Thank you, William.