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.