Echo the Elephant-Glorified in Death!

On 3rd May, 2009 the life of perhaps one the Worlds most famous elephants and matriarchs -Echo the elephant came to an end. Echo-the Elephant had been made famous by virtue of having been featured in a 1993 BBC Natural History Unit Division film dubbed"Echo of the Elephants" and its sequels narrated by world renowned elephant researcher Cynthia Moss and BBC camera man Martin Colbert!

Her death was featured by various international TV channels and received prominent attention over the Internet with myriads of condolences being sent to the staff at Amboseli National Park. Her remains have been left in open air surrounded by electric fences to enable scavenger birds feed on her flesh but preserve her skeletal frame for future display in her remembrance.Echo was a female African Bush Elephant of Loxodonta Africana species and died at the ripe old age of 64 years.She started siring offspring in 1969 and her family as at the time of her death was a heard of over 40 elephants. Watching the NTV piece on her death was simply moving and to find out that she was indeed a celebrity and a much treasured resource prompted me to think of how many of us locals give little or no attention to our wildlife resource and conservation efforts.

For now the Nairobi National Park will soon be extinct save for a concrete jungle as houses mushroom up in Kitengela, South c ,Mombasa road, Ongata rongai, Athi River, Kajiado etc exactly on the migratory routes and habitats of these wild animals. We need to be more responsible Kenyans...Don't you think so?

(there are some interesting photos on the Wildlife Direct blog ElephantVoices)

Here's a Youtube feature on her: