商末野象于淮河以北的主要活動區域在今山東泰山周邊,亦即當時的"泰山田獵區"。周人東征以后,泰山周邊尤其是汶水流域一帶涌入大量以農耕為主的西土外來人口,商末田獵區被改造開發為農耕區,野象棲息地的生態環境由此遭受嚴重破壞。同時隨著西周中期氣候轉為干冷,野象被迫南遷至淮河流域一線。春秋時期,齊魯一帶氣候雖又開始轉暖,但北歸之路已被洙泗流域與汶水流域一帶的各式居民點阻斷,且泰山周邊的環境亦早已不適合野象生存繁衍,所以大象未能再回到齊魯大地。導致商周野生象遷徙的,固然有氣候變遷的原因,但人為因素同樣不可忽視。

Toward the end of the Shang dynasty,the wild elephants’ main area of activity was around Mount Tai in today’s Shandong Province,in what was then the Mount Tai hunting grounds.The eastward march of the Zhou was followed by an influx of settlers from the west,primarily engaged in farming,into the area around Mount Tai,especially the Wenshui River area.They transformed the hunting grounds into farmland,with severe consequences for the wild elephant habitat.At the same time,as the climate turned drier and cooler in the mid-Zhou period,the wild elephants were forced to move south to the Huai River region.In the Spring and Autumn era,the climate in the Qi and Lu area began to warm up,but the wild elephants’ way back was blocked by settlements of various kinds in the Zhu-Si basin and the Wenshui basin;furthermore,the environment around Mount Tai was no longer suited to their survival and reproduction.For these reasons,the wild elephants never made their way back to the Qi and Lu area.Although climate change was one reason for their migration,the human factor cannot be overlooked.