Iconic elephant, Big Tusker, dies at 50
Irene Githinji @gitshee
Tim-the Big Tusker, one of the largest and celebrated elephant in Africa has died.
The iconic elephant, aged 50, whose sanctuary was in Mada area of Amboseli National Park died on Tuesday morning.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the elephant’s remains would be preserved at the National Museums in Nairobi to prepare the body for preservation towards education and exhibition purposes.
“Big Tim is one of the Africa’s last big tusker elephants that roam in a vast, remote wilderness of southern Kenya.
Some years ago, Tim the great patriarch of Amboseli National park was struck on the head with a large rock and pierced through the ear with a spear, of which the tip was embedded in his shoulder,” KWS said in a statement.
However, KWS and other partners sedated and treated Tim and found its way back to the Amboseli marsh within a short time.
“Elephant families are matriarchal and males are solitary from the group when they reach sexual maturity.
But Tim was always welcome to travel in company of females and their families,” KWS added.
KWS described Tim-the Big Tusker as unassuming, unpretentious and laid back ‘a benevolent, slow-moving preserver of the peace at Amboseli’ and was well known across the country.
