However, Zhou's career went in the opposite direction to his childhood ambitions. In 1985, he graduated from South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, with a degree in industrial automation.

Then, he began teaching the subject at Southwest Forestry University in Kunming, Yunnan's capital.

"Even though it hardly overlapped with the animals, it was my major that brought me to the turning point," he said, recalling how in 1991 he began working as a volunteer for a program supported by the university and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

"At the time, few people knew how to use cameras, so I was chosen as the program's photographer because of my professional background. That started my decadeslong relationship with animals, especially Asian elephants," he said.

Zhou said that in the 1990s China faced questions from people overseas about whether wild Asian elephants actually lived in the country, because there were no photos or videos of them. Between 1991 and 2012, he entered the virgin forests of southern Yunnan many times as he sought to put those doubts to bed.