Africa’s Big Tuskers

Please note that for security reasons we do not provide names or specific locations of any living elephants featured in this issue. We call on our community not to speculate about the location or names of those elephants, and to join us in celebrating these treasures for what they are – African icons.

An elephant with tusks reaching the ground is typically defined as a big tusker. According to Rowland Ward’s records, the heaviest tusk of an African elephant weighed an astonishing 226lb (102.5kg), the heaviest tusk of a woolly mammoth weighed 201lb (91.2kg) and the heaviest tusk of an Asiatic elephant weighed 161lb (73kg). However, it is essential to note that the longest tusks are not always the heaviest, as weight also depends on the circumference of the tusks.

Lengthwise, the longest African elephant tusk measured around 3.5m, the longest woolly mammoth tusk measured around 4m and the longest Asiatic elephant tusk measured around 3m.

Unfortunately, hunters very much prize the so-called “hundred pounders” – elephants whose tusks weigh at least 45kg each. As a combined result of trophy hunting, large scale exploitation of ivory for consumer goods in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and devastating poaching, big tuskers have almost been wiped off the African continent. Once a common sight, roaming far and wide across East, Central and Southern Africa, now there are very few big tuskers left on the whole continent.

In the above cover photo, you can admire an iconic big tusker against a spectacular backdrop. Now around 47 years old, this fine bull is just about to exit his prime, which is a period generally between 40 and 50 years old when big tuskers reach their peak reproductive age, as well as the climax of their power. This age coincides with the most pronounced growth of their tusks, which means that a lot of bulls draw unwanted attention during these years.

These elephants are like no others. They have captured our imagination. Big tuskers have become incredibly special and, almost two years after the death of Satao at the hands of poachers, we hope that this gallery not only celebrates the existence of big tuskers but does justice to their majesty as the very last of their kind.

In November 2014, this elephant was treated from a wound that was probably caused by poachers, which further highlights how stringent measures need to be taken to protect these amazing animals. A combination of solutions, including constant surveillance, armed protection, relocation and artificial insemination programmes, is arguably the way forward. As Satao’s tragic death has proven, simple armed security is not enough, and big tuskers need armed guards to monitor them 24/7 – a similar protection to that which was enjoyed by an iconic bull called Ahmed in the Marsabit National Park in Kenya in the 1970s.

📷 © George Dian Balan

Contrary to what could easily be believed due to the number of good pictures taken with elephants out in the open, elephants – and in particular big tuskers – spend much more time in the bush than in grasslands. Big tuskers can be seen out in the open in the emerald season when the grass is tender, or in the dry season when they visit marshes and congregate at waterholes. Otherwise, they stay deep in the bush and are very difficult to see.

The magnificent tusker in this picture is 44 years old and is big – both in body size and in tusk size. This particular picture was taken on a walking safari from less than 20 metres away. We were following a group of bulls in the bush when all of a sudden, the biggest of them came out of nowhere, raised his head and spread his huge ears; staring at us. He seemed as surprised as we were. We stopped, and he did not charge. He maintained this posture for a few seconds then disappeared in the same way that he came.

📷 © Vivien Prince

This elephant is the oldest sister of another renowned big tusker, who is probably the most photographed big tusker in East Africa. Born in 1967, she grew up alongside two males – who are now also big tuskers – until the boys left the family when they were around 14 years old. The genes in that family are simply astounding!

This elephant became a matriarch of her herd in 2003, and at the beginning of 2012, she became the mother of a young calf, which can be seen suckling in this picture.

She is exceptional because she is one of less than ten female big tuskers that have been seen in Africa in recent years. While only male Asiatic elephants can grow very long tusks, both male and female African elephants can grow such impressive ivory. However, the tusks of the males are generally much longer, thicker and several times heavier than those of the females, which rarely exceed 25kg each.

📷 © Susan McConnell

This legendary tusker from the African rainforest belongs to a smaller sub-species of the African elephant, which can only be found in the equatorial forest. His tusks display the typical forest elephant shape, growing almost straight downwards and parallel to each other. In this respect, they are similar to the tusks of a walrus. As can be seen in this photo, the gigantic tusks are helpful tools, which are used together with the trunk for digging and extracting minerals in forest clearings.

However, such tusks are highly prized by poachers and trophy hunters, who have decimated forest elephant populations. In a recently published article the author confirmed that we have lost 62% of forest elephants in the past decade alone. DNA analysis of recently confiscated tusks from Africa revealed that most of them originated from certain forested areas in Central Africa and bushy areas in southern Tanzania.

Like most of the big tuskers, this elephant has a peaceful character and normally avoids conflict. However, he knows how to assert himself when necessary. This was the case when this particular picture was taken, as he prevented other elephants from joining him at the waterhole, making an exception just for this smaller, weak elephant.

📷 © George Dian Balan

Some big tuskers are born with only one tusk, while others break their tusks while using them. The bull in this photo is still alive and well, and according to local researchers, he was probably not born with only one tusk, but instead broke one of his tusks at some point in time.

This particular picture was taken during a joint operation of the Kenyan Wildlife Service and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, while seeking to dart and treat another bull that had possibly been injured by poachers. While the other bulls ran into the bushes, this one remained to the end – giving the impression that he wanted to protect the others somehow and cover their retreat. He then disappeared into the bushes, and the targeted bull was finally darted from a helicopter.

📷 © Sherry McKelvie

This splendid bull was photographed in Tanzania while grazing peacefully together with another bull as, due to the recent rains, the whole area was lush, and food was plentiful. Both elephants seemed very content and were rumbling gently alongside one another.

He is one of the very few bulls that may become a big tusker one day, and it is quite a miracle that he has survived the poaching fury thus far. Local guides do not know much about this particular individual – like most bulls that reach this age and tusk size; he is rarely spotted and lives an elusive life.

📷 © Bobby Jo Clow, The Askari Project

Photos of big tuskers are notoriously tricky to capture as they live secretive lives, and most of them have already passed away.

However, the team at The Askari Project was not to be deterred, and their attempt for this photo started in the darkness of early morning, shrouded in clouds and fog. As the light gradually won the fight with the last shadows of the dark, several elephant silhouettes emerged in the distance.

It took 90 minutes for the bulls to reach the safari vehicles patiently waiting for them. One of the bulls had incredible tusks; far greater in size than any of the other individuals in the group. He took people entirely by surprise when he chose to cross the road directly between the two safari vehicles, offering an unforgettably close encounter.

The Askari Project has been established to raise funding and support for elephant conservation, as well as the protection of some of Africa’s last big tuskers.

They contribute to the funding of The Tsavo Trust.

📷 © Richard Moller, Tsavo Trust

Kenani, now deceased, is the big tusker that inspired The Tsavo Trust’s flagship Big Tusker Project, as well as the organisation’s logo. As with most big tuskers, he was rarely seen in the open and spent most of the time deep in the dry bush.

It’s no secret that Tsavo has the last notable population of big tuskers in the whole of Africa. To preserve this amazing gene pool, The Tsavo Trust has a special monitoring programme, conducting constant aerial and ground operations, which play a vital role in discouraging poachers, as well as ensuring the timely treatment of any wounded animals. The Tsavo Trust collaborates with the Kenyan Wildlife Service to maximise the security of big tuskers, and it also works with other organisations, like the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, to provide any necessary medical treatment to animals. The Tsavo area is also famous for a small hirola population – the world’s rarest antelope, as well as for the formerly infamous man-eating lions.

The fact that most elephants in Africa today have small tusks, rather than tusks that are similar in length and weight to the prehistoric woolly mammoths, is due to a combined effect of large-scale commercial exploitation, trophy hunting and devastating poaching. The result is the opposite of Darwin’s theory of natural selection, as individuals with the best genes have been systematically exterminated.

📷 © Jez Bennett

The name ‘Babu’ comes from the Swahili word for grandfather, and this iconic bull was the pride of the Ngorongoro conservation area in Tanzania before he passed away. When he rested his head on his tusks, they were so big that he gave the impression that he was ploughing with them.

Although he had an average body size for a bull elephant, Babu was still an awe-inspiring sight thanks to his tusks, which were almost parallel and reminiscent of prehistoric species. Babu passed away from natural causes.

Up until around the age of 20, both male and female African elephants grow at a similar pace. While females then stop growing, males continue until around the age of 40, which explains why male great tuskers are usually about 80cm taller and two times heavier than fully grown females. An average East African big tusker bull stands at about 3.2m in height at the shoulders and weighs around 6 tonnes. The biggest bull ever shot in Africa, which happened in Angola, was around 4 metres tall and weighed about 11 tonnes.

📷 © Johan Marais

Duke was once the pride of Kruger National Park and was named after Thomas Duke, who was a ranger based in Lower Sabie at the beginning of the 20th century. Duke was arguably the most photographed big tusker in South Africa as, unlike most big tuskers, he was not shy and he enjoyed human attention. He passed away from old age in October 2011 at around the age of 58.

South African big tuskers are known for generally having a slightly bigger body size than their East African counterparts, with many of them reaching a shoulder height of an estimated 3.4 metres and weighing around 7 tonnes. That said, the heaviest recorded tusks of any African elephant belonged to a bull that lived in the Kilimanjaro area of East Africa and was shot in 1898.

In elephant society, the role of the big tuskers and old bulls is crucial. For instance, it has been observed in certain wildlife sanctuaries in South Africa that young bulls who left their mothers and families at an early age – or who were raised as orphans by humans and then released back into the wild – can pose more of a threat to other wildlife. Such testosterone-filled bulls may even try to mate with rhinos, sometimes killing them in the process. However, this does not happen in areas where great tuskers and other old bulls still exist, as they will keep the younger bulls under control and educate them when necessary.

📷 © Mark Muller

The iconic Satao was arguably the most handsome of the last big tuskers. His tusks displayed the characteristic shape of African elephants in that they grew laterally forward before turning towards each other. He lived in the Tsavo National Park (Tsavo East and Tsavo West), which meant he was arguably part of the best big tusker gene pool in the whole of Africa. As can be seen in this photo, big tuskers are often accompanied by several smaller bulls – called askaris – with which they form small bachelor herds.

People familiar with Satao reported that he seemed to intentionally hide his tusks behind bushes in a way that made them suspect he was aware that his huge tusks placed him in danger. Whatever the scientific reasons behind this behaviour, it is most certainly a characteristic that I have witnessed concerning several big tuskers.

After falling victim to poachers in May 2014 at the age of approximately 46, the shocking pictures of his carcass made him a symbol of the huge tragedies suffered by African wildlife. His death highlights the failures across the continent to protect these gentle giants, which is something that we need to face and urgently rectify.

About the author

George Dian Balan is a wildlife photographer and conservationist, who has travelled extensively across the world in search of the last wilderness sanctuaries. He learned foreign languages in his childhood by reading hundreds of books about wildlife in English and French; years before the ‘boom’ in wildlife documentaries and the massive distribution of wildlife photography through social networks.
Dian is a self-taught photographer and naturalist, who seeks to do justice through his work to the fantastic beauty of wild creatures in their natural environments. His project – The Miracle of Wildlife – is about the miracle of the other wonderful creatures with which we share Earth. It is about wildlife photography winning hearts and minds. It is about a gentle walk in the woods, a swim in the ocean, an intrepid expedition in the tropics or a sweaty hike to the top of a snow-covered mountain.
His work has been published by BBC Earth, Wild Planet Photo Magazine and Africa Geographic, among others, and he has also done well in various photography competitions. Dian is one of the very few people in the world who have photographed both African and Asiatic big tuskers. He believes that elephants should be depicted in children’s books with “tusks-to-the-ground” and rhinos with “horns-to-the-sky”, exactly as they were in great numbers before, and as very few of them still are.

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Asian and African elephants are listed as endangered species . They are threatened by habitat loss and poaching . At the beginning of the 21st century, fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants remained in the wild. From 1979 to 1989 the number of African elephants in the wild was reduced by more than half, from 1,300,000 to 600,000, partly as a result of commercial demand for ivory.

There are three different species of elephants: the African savanna, or bush, elephant , the African forest elephant , and the Asian elephant . The African forest elephant, recognized as a separate species in 2000, is smaller than the savanna elephant. There are three subspecies of Asian elephant: the Indian (or mainland), the Sumatran, and the Sri Lankan.

Elephants are herbivores : they eat a range of plants, including grasses, fruit, and roots. An adult elephant consumes about 100 kg (220 pounds) of food and 100 litres (26 gallons) of water per day. These amounts can be double for a hungry and thirsty individual. Such consumption makes elephants an important ecological factor, because it substantially affects and even alters the ecosystems elephants live in.

The African savanna , or bush, elephant (Loxodonta africana) weighs up to 8,000 kg (9 tons) and stands 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 feet) at the shoulder. The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), which lives in rainforests, was recognized as a separate species in 2000 and is smaller than the savanna elephant. It has slender, downward-pointing tusks. The common belief that there existed “pygmy” and “water” elephants has no basis; they are probably varieties of the African forest elephants.

elephant , (family Elephantidae), largest living land animal , characterized by its long trunk (elongated upper lip and nose), columnar legs, and huge head with temporal glands and wide, flat ears. Elephants are grayish to brown in colour, and their body hair is sparse and coarse. They are found most often in savannas , grasslands , and forests but occupy a wide range of habitats, including deserts , swamps , and highlands in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia .

Form and function

The

trunk (proboscis)

The trunk, or proboscis, of the elephant is one of the most versatile organs to have evolved among mammals. This structure is unique to members of the order Proboscidea, which includes the extinct mastodons and mammoths. Anatomically, the trunk is a combination of the upper lip and nose; the nostrils are located at the tip. The trunk is large and powerful, weighing about 130 kg (290 pounds) in an adult male and capable of lifting a load of about 250 kg. However, it is also extremely dexterous, mobile, and sensitive, which makes it appear almost independent of the rest of the animal. The proboscis comprises 16 muscles. A major muscle covering the top and sides functions to raise the trunk; another covers the bottom. Within the trunk is an extremely complex network of radiating and transverse muscle fascicles that provide fine movement. A total of nearly 150,000 muscle fascicles have been counted in cross sections of trunk. The trunk is innervated by two proboscidean nerves, which render it extremely sensitive. Bifurcations of this nerve reach most portions of the trunk, especially the tip, which is equipped with tactile bristles at regular intervals. At the end of the trunk are flaplike projections enabling it to perform amazingly delicate functions, such as picking up a coin from a flat surface or cracking a peanut open, blowing away the shell, and putting the kernel in the mouth. African elephants have two such extremities (one above and one below); Asian elephants have one. An Asian elephant most often curls the tip of its trunk around an item and picks it up in a method called the “grasp,” whereas the African elephant uses the “pinch,” picking up objects in a manner similar to that of a human’s use of the thumb and index finger. The trunk of the African elephant may be more extendable, but that of the Asian elephant is probably more dexterous.

African savanna elephant

African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana).

© Anke van Wyk/stock.adobe.com

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Elephants use the trunk like a hand in other ways as well. Tool use in elephants involves holding branches and scratching themselves in places that the trunk and tail cannot reach. Large branches are sometimes wielded, and objects may be thrown in threat displays. When elephants meet, one may touch the face of the other, or they will intertwine trunks. This “trunk-shake” can be compared to a human handshake in that it may be associated with similar functions such as assurance and greeting or as a way of assessing strength.

elephant evolution

Evolution of modern elephants.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Breathing, drinking, and eating are all vital functions of the trunk. Most breathing is performed through the trunk rather than the mouth. Elephants drink by sucking as much as 10 litres (2.6 gallons) of water into the trunk and then squirting it into the mouth. They eat by detaching grasses, leaves, and fruit with the end of the trunk and using it to place this vegetation into the mouth. The trunk is also used to collect dust or grass for spraying onto themselves, presumably for protection against insect bites and the sun. If danger is suspected, elephants raise and swivel the trunk as if it were “an olfactory periscope,” possibly sniffing the air for information.

African savanna elephant feeding

African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) eating cactus leaves.

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Sound production and water storage

Elephants produce two types of vocalization by modifying the size of the nostrils as air is passed through the trunk. Low sounds are the growl, rolling growl, snort, and roar; high sounds are the trump, trumpet, pulsated trumpet, trumpet phrase, bark, gruff cry, and cry. Rumbling sounds initially thought to be caused by intestinal activity are now known to be produced by the voice box (larynx) and are considered to be similar to purring in cats. Vocalizations originate in the larynx and a special structure associated with it, the pharyngeal pouch. In the vast majority of mammals, the throat contains nine bones connected in a boxlike structure, the hyoid apparatus, that supports the tongue and the voice box. Elephants have only five bones in the hyoid apparatus, and the gap formed by the missing bones is filled by muscles, tendons, and ligaments. These looser attachments allow the larynx a great degree of freedom and enable the formation of the pharyngeal pouch just behind the tongue. This unique structure facilitates sound production and has voluntary muscles that allow the pouch to be used as a resonating chamber for calls emitted at frequencies below the range of human hearing. These low-frequency (5–24 hertz) calls are responded to by other elephants up to 4 km (2.5 miles) away. Low-frequency sound waves travel through the ground as well as the air, and results of experiments indicate that elephants can detect infrasonic calls as seismic waves. Elephants can produce a variety of other sounds by beating the trunk on hard ground, a tree, or even against their own tusks.

In addition to sound production, the pharyngeal pouch is presumed to be used for carrying water. For centuries people have observed that on hot days and in times when there is no water nearby, elephants insert their trunks into their mouths, withdraw liquid, and spray themselves with it. The source of this liquid and the ability of elephants to withdraw it have posed a mystery even though the pharyngeal pouch was described in 1875. Two plausible sources of the liquid are the stomach and the pharyngeal pouch. Stomach contents, however, are acidic and would irritate the skin. In addition, the sprayed liquid contains small food particles commonly found in the pharyngeal pouch, as opposed to digested food from the stomach. Finally, repeated field observations attest that elephants can spray themselves while walking or running. As it would be difficult to suck liquid from the stomach while running, the most likely explanation for the liquid’s source is the pharyngeal pouch. Another possible function of the pouch is heat absorption, especially from the sensitive brain area above it.

Tusks and teeth

Elephant tusks are enlarged incisor teeth made of ivory. In the African elephant both the male and the female possess tusks, whereas in the Asian elephant it is mainly the male that has tusks. When present in the female, tusks are small, thin, and often of a uniform thickness. Some male Asian elephants are tuskless and are known as muknas. Tusk size and shape are inherited. Tusks are used for defense, offense, digging, lifting objects, gathering food, and stripping bark to eat from trees. They also protect the sensitive trunk, which is tucked between them when the elephant charges. In times of drought, elephants dig water holes in dry riverbeds by using their tusks, feet, and trunks.

African elephant

Two male African elephants fighting.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Elephants have six sets of cheek teeth (molars and premolars) in their lifetime, but they do not erupt all at once. At birth an elephant has two or three pairs of cheek teeth in each jaw. New teeth develop from behind and slowly move forward as worn teeth fragment in front and either fall out or are swallowed and excreted. Each new set is successively longer, wider, and heavier. The last molars can measure nearly 40 cm (almost 16 inches) long and weigh more than 5 kg (about 11 pounds). Only the last four molars or their remains are present after about 60 years of age. Sometimes tooth loss is the cause of death, as it brings on starvation.