Ely: return of the prodigal elephant

Ely, a young Amboseli male elephant, gained international notoriety in the early 1990's when he was born crippled to his even more famous mother, Echo, heroine of three BBC TV films and a recent Animal Planet series. He overcame his affliction, grew to a healthy young pre-teen, but then in 2001 he disappeared. Had he succumbed to a Maasai spear or a poacher's bullet? Or had he just 'gone independent' earlier than his fellow bulls? This January, some nine years later, overjoyed researchers learned the truth when the prodigal returned to the heart of Amboseli National Park. The clip, taken by Cynthia Moss with co-workers Soila Sayialel and Norah Njiraini, shows him wandering casually through a post-rains elephant congregation, testing young females and hanging around as though he'd never left. Learn more at http://elephanttrust.org/node/615.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Elephant
• Amboseli
• Kenya
• Echo
• behavior

[ramprashad29]

wow he was echo's kid the one that was born and couldnt walk at first. if that's him he is a stunningly handsome guy.....

[mrsBlomsten]

love too see him Ely , what a son after Echo , he is hansom

[Bugalu67]

What a beautiful boy!

[chellylinnfarm]

i feel very soory for ely. he never got touched by his mother tusks(its their way of showing love)

[gowildlife]

I am glad Ely is still alive! I was worried about him. At 20 years old, he probably weighs about 9,000 or 10,000 pounds. I am glad to see his progress. I do hope he will someday reach the greatness of Dionysus, the dominant bull elephant in Amboseli and the area, and become the biggest and wisest in Amboseli.

[HenryDavidT]

This is a total contrast to that helpless baby who spent 3 days struggling, just to get up to nurse on his mother Echo. Ely has grown into a giant, majestic elephant, with huge tusks. Given his mother's incredibly long and curvy tusks, in addition to being a very big female elephant, and Ely's being 19 or 20 and still growing -- and having another 35 to 40 years to grow more --- Ely could become one of the giant bulls and grow some of the biggest and longest tusks in all of Africa...