A new record has been broken in the East African Wildlife sector.
What could easily be the world’s heaviest elephant, alive, is being documented in Kenya.
The Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), during its recent jumbo translocations, reports to record the country’s weightiest elephant.
Wildlife experts believe the elephant, tipping the scale at 10,000 kilograms, or 10 tons, must be the heftiest in Kenya’s history, East Africa and possibly the heaviest in the world yet.
The discovery was made during the recently concluded elephant translocation from Solio Ranch in Laikipia County.
The sheer weight of the elephant presented unprecedented logistical challenges for the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) Veterinarians and Capture Unit, for the biggest land mammal transportation.
As it happens, the gigantic elephant required the deployment of two heavy-duty cranes to facilitate its safe relocation to the Aberdare National Park.
The massive elephant nearly matched the 1956 Angolan Jumbo called ‘Henry,’ which recorded 10.886 tons (11,000 kg) and 13 feet (4 meters) in height.
Weighing approximately 11 tons and standing over 13 feet (nearly 4 meters) tall, Henry the Jumbo, surpassed all known living elephants. He was shot in Angola in 1955, and his impressive body was donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in 1959.
Henry or the ‘Giant of Angola,’ which was sometimes referred to as the Fénykövi elephant after the Hungarian game hunter Josef J. Fénykövi who killed him, was the largest elephant ever recorded.
Essentially, African Savanna Elephants are also known as African Bush Elephants are usually the largest species of land animal.
African savanna elephants form large herds that can range from around 10 individuals to groups of families numbering 70 individuals or more.
On the other hand, the African forest elephant herds tend to be much smaller, with only a few elephants in each unit.