Two elephant calves are among a nine-member elephant herd in jungle of Quế Phước commune, 70km south-west of Đà Nẵng City. Photos courtesy of the Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Reserve

ĐÀ NẴNG — Images of a herd of nine Asian elephants, including two calves, have been captured by camera traps in an elephant conservation area in Quế Phước commune, 70km south-west of the central city of Đà Nẵng.

The Đà Nẵng City Special-Use Forest Management Board said the herd – an endangered species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – was seen in 2020 with seven elephants.

In 2021 and then 2025, two calves appeared on the camera.

Mai Văn Dưỡng, director of the Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Reserve, said the two wild baby elephants are part of a herd of endangered Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) living on the reserve.

Elephant calves and mothers in the jungle of the well-protected Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Reserve in Quế Phước Commune of Đà Nẵng City. Photo courtesy of Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Reserve

Dưỡng said 30 camera traps had been set up at 15 sites to track the wild elephants and the latest photos were collected from April.

He said the camera trap system also recorded photographs of the other endangered species, including the giant muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis), Trường Sơn Muntjac (Muntiacus truongsonensis), grey-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix cinerea); Edwards's pheasant (Lophura edwardsi)

The director said that a series of technology-based solutions have been used in improving wildlife tracking and monitoring since 2025.

A local ranger checks a point in jungle of the Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Reserve in central Việt Nam.

Earlier this year, Đà Nẵng City’s Culture, Sports and Tourism department, in cooperation with the communal people’s committee of Quế Phước and the Đà Nẵng Special-Use Forest Management Board, proposed an eco-tour route connecting Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary, Quế Phước and the Elephant Species and Habitat Conservation Reserve in the 2026–31 period.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment approved a conservation project to help protect the endangered elephant herds in Đà Nẵng City and Đắk Lắk Province as part of the Việt Nam Elephant Conservation Action Plan to 2035 funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature Việt Nam (WWF-Viet Nam).

Last year, a document film, titled Chung Sống (Coexistence), was produced as part of a project on 'Promoting the harmonious coexistence between humans and Asian elephants in the reserve with funding from LVDI International Incorporated, a tax-exempt public charity in the US that is dedicated to preserving biological diversity on Earth.

The elephant protection area was set up under the United States Agency for International Development-funded Green Annamites Project, assisting Việt Nam’s transition to climate-smart and low-emissions development through improved forest protection, enhanced biodiversity conservation, and increased resilience of communities since 2017.

Sông Thanh National Park in central Việt Nam. The park has a herd of nine Asian elephants living in the wild. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng City Special-Use Forest Management Board

With 18,977ha of critical habitat for Asian elephants, the protected area helps conserve one of the last groups of the endangered species in central Việt Nam.

The country has around 100 Asian elephants living in the wild, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. — VNS