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[PHOTOS] British photographer's last pics of Kenya’s ' Elephant Queen'

Photographer Will Burrard-Lucas spent 18 months on the project

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by Lyndsay Nyawira

News02 May 2019 - 12:29
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In Summary


•The last remaining super tusker dead of old age.

•British photographer Will Burrards takes the last photos.

Kenya's F_MU1 seen shortly before her death from natural causes at the age of 60 in 2017

For more than 60 years, the elephant known as F_MU1 roamed the plains of Tsavo, Kenya.     

She was one of Africa's last remaining "super tuskers" - so called because their tusks are long enough to reach the ground.

British photographer Will Burrard-Lucas captured incredible images shortly before F_MU1 died of old age.

 

He photographed her in partnership with the Tsavo Trust and Kenya Wildlife Service and spent 18 months on the project.

The first time he saw the elephant, Will says he was "speechless".

"F_MU1 was skinny and old but she strode forward with stately grace.”

The queen towering over other members of her herd in Kenya.

In his blog post he says ,"Her tusks were so long that they scraped the ground in front of her. She was like a relic from a bygone era."

Each of the queen's tusks is estimated to have weighed more than 100 pounds.

He says in his blog the elephant queen  had survived through periods of terrible poaching and it was a victory that her life was not ended prematurely by a snare, bullet or poisoned arrow.

Will's photographs feature in a new book Land Of Giants.

The last photo he took of F-MU1 was taken at a water hole.

Kenya's F_MU1 Last photo shot while taking water in the Tsavo park
 

"It was a feeling of privilege and euphoria that will stay with me forever," he says.

Dr Mark Jones from the Born Free wildlife charity told BBC,” Super tuskers are very rare these days, precisely because their big tusks make them prime targets for trophy hunters."

"Because these animals are all-too-often taken out before they have reached their reproductive prime, super-tusker genes are being bred out of elephant populations, and we could very well be seeing the last of them,"Jones said.

There are now fewer than 30 super tuskers left in Africa and they are in the Tsavo conservation area.

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