- He was born in 1979 and named by the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.
- Preliminary reports indicated that he died of natural courses.
Image: JEREMY GOSS
A notable elephant named Ulysses, which for four decades survived Kenya's poaching crisis, has died in Amboseli.
The conservation organisation Big Life Foundation said Ulysses was a super tusker.
A big tusker or super tusker is an elephant with tusks that weigh over 45kg each.
“He was born in 1979 and named by the Amboseli Trust for Elephants long before there was any sign that he would grow into one of Kenya’s biggest tuskers,” Big Life Foundation said.
Ulysses died on March 27.
Preliminary reports indicated that he died of natural courses.
A source aware of the incident at the Kenya Wildlife Service, said Ulysses died after his stomach bloated due to eating too much green leaves.
The cause of death was clarified following a post-mortem.
The Big Life Foundation protects over 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa.
They partner with the local communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.
The foundation was co-founded in 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt, conservationist Richard Bonham, and entrepreneur Tom Hill.
Big Life said very few populations of big tusker or super tusker still carry the genes for such huge tusks.
The individual elephants that do grow them are extremely vulnerable to poaching for their ivory.
“At the height of the last elephant-poaching crisis, Ulysses’ tusks would have been worth a staggering $200,000 (now Sh23 million) or more on the wholesale ivory market,” Big Life said.
The foundation said the protection that had been given to Ulysses ensured that he made it through the worst poaching crisis.
“Thanks to protection from Big Life rangers and the KWS, Ulysses made it through the worst of the ivory-poaching days, only to encounter another threat: Human-wildlife conflict,” Big Life said.
Big Life said Ulysses was on two different occasions speared by farmers in retaliation for crop-raiding, before the construction of Big Life’s crop-protection fence.
“On both occasions, in 2016 and 2018, he was successfully treated and since then has wandered in Amboseli, delighting those lucky enough to see him.
Elephants can live into their 60’s.
Big Life had said the exact cause of death could not be determined by KWS, but his death does appear to have been natural.
“While it may seem strange to describe it as such, the natural death of any animal (rather than at the hands of humans) should be considered a success,” the foundation said.
His tusks were recovered and weighed in at a staggering 51 and 47 kg.
"Appearance is not everything and having big tusks does not make any one elephant more important than another,"Big Life said.
"As one of the biggest tuskers in Africa, Ulysses’ giant presence on the plains of Amboseli will certainly be missed."
Tim, another majestic 'super tusker' of Amboseli died in 2020.
He died on February 4, 2020, aged 50 years in the Mada area of Amboseli National Park.
The body of Tim was prepared by taxidermist and is set to be conserved for education and exhibition purposes.
Tim was one of Africa's last big elephants that roamed in the vast remote wilderness of Southern Kenya.
Some years back, Tim the great patriarch of Amboseli , was struck on the head with a large rock.
Further, it was pierced through the ear with a spear, the tip of which was embedded in his shoulder.
Following the injury inflicted on him, Tim worked his way to the headquarters of the Big Life Foundation.
He seemed as if he had sought out humans who could assist him.
Tim was sedated, treated and taken back to the Amboseli marsh in fairly short order.
Within a very short time, he was back in the Amboseli Marsh.
It is suspected that the injuries Tim sustained came from an attempted poaching incident.
Already, plans are underway to erect Tim's monument in the park.
The process is under procurement stage.
In March, Tourism CS Najib Balala revealed to the National Assembly that Sh46.5 million will be used to construct the monument.
Balala made the revelation when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Finance committee.
The demand for ivory has often driven the iconic species towards extinction.
In Asian countries, ivory is used to make elaborate and expensive ornaments.
In China and Hong Kong, it is regarded as a precious material and is used in ornaments and jewellery.
Elephants are poached for their ivory, and Tim’s tusks were among the biggest in all of Africa.
The 2021 National Wildlife Census showed that Kenya is home to 36,280 savanna elephants, becoming the fourth largest population in the world after Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Tanzania.
(Edited by Francis Wadegu)