NEWS UPDATE
Tributes to Great Tusker Tim who died this year February 5th, 2020
“Tim was born in January 1969 to Trista of the TD family. We first met him when he was only 4 years old, we watched him grow and become independent, then grow further into a magnificent mature male. Later in his life Tim became one of Africa's most famous elephant icons and people flocked to Amboseli in the hope of seeing him. To us, it wasn't his spectacular tusks that made Tim so special, it was his calm and gentle nature. To us, and the other members of the ecosystem, he was a polite elephant, and very popular with other elephants of all ages, both male and female. Male elephants often befriend and follow older experienced males in order to learn important survival and social skills, especially when they first become independent. Tim welcomed these friendships; he was playful and tolerant with younger males, even
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when he was mating or guarding oestrus females. Unsurprisingly females thought him to be a good choice for mating and we know he passed on his genes many times over the years. Wild male elephant lifespans are almost always shorter than those of females; in 47 years studying the Amboseli population we have only recorded 14 males who were older than 50 when they died. Tim was 51 and in musth, so he was in good physical shape and there is every chance we will get more babies born to him in the coming 22 months if he had been mating recently. The post-mortem results from Kenya Wildlife Service revealed he died of a twisted gut, which is a natural cause of death for elephants, although we don't know why this happened at this time.
Of course we are incredibly sad that Tim is dead; he has been part of our lives for so long. It's hard to believe we will never see his unmistakable tall form striding the Amboseli plains, and all of us will miss the thrill of his company. Our trust with the elephants is always precious, but with Tim it was extra special - having a male of that size and stature come up to greet us, then rest by the car always gave us goosebumps. But we take comfort in the fact that Tim's life had significant impact for both elephants and humans: protecting him catalysed positive collaborations, his fame sparked huge public awareness and his legacy lives on in the lives of the male friends who he taught, and the calves he fathered.” Dr. Cynthia Moss Director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants
