Africa's Giant Tuskers

[100ponder]

Super Tusker called SH1 from Tsavo :-

[Flutterby]

[Richprins]

I wonder how tall these ellies are in stature?

[Lisbeth]

[Klipspringer]

The Tsavo tuskers are impressive and I think there are quite a number of them.

[Lisbeth]

There are several in this topic

[100ponder]

Hi RP,
have a look at the photo of Tim's tusks and assume that the person holding the longer tusk is 1,75 meter tall then the light coloured section is min 2 meters long. ( light coloured section is tusk length protruding from lip )
Now look at the photos of Tim on the hoof and using this knoledge and you relise Tim's shoulder height was likely to have been 3,5 - 3,6 meter (11'6"-11'10").
That is similar or slightly exceeds the tallest KNP tuskers.
I think that since the Amboseli and Tsavo elephants forms one population, a person can safely assume that super tuskers from both areas will attain similar shoulder heights.
(The odd balls are a few hundred km south where the Mikumi and Selous elephants are somewhat smaller.)

[Richprins]

100p!

Good points indeed!

[Klipspringer]

A large northern tusker

phpBB [video]

Taking a group of tourists to visit mountain gorillas in Bwindi, Uganda, we encountered a forest elephant - a rare event, made even more exciting when he turned his head revealing the biggest tusks I have seen on a living elephant. Sarah, a guide with the Uganda Wildlife Service, explains how elephants use mud to heal wounds.
This was in 2014 - I have not shared this video before now, fearing that some ivory dealer would put a contract out on this magnificent tusker, but I recently learned that he has since died of natural causes. That he lived to die of old age is a tribute to Uganda's successful conservation policies. After our encounter with this extraordinary elephant, we had a great visit to the gorillas too - a day to remember!

[Richprins]