An amazing female elephant known as F_MU1 lived for more than 60 years in Kenya, avoiding poachers and growing tusks that literally scraped the ground in front of her as she walked.
“When I first saw her I was awestruck, for she had the most amazing tusks I had ever seen,” wrote wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas in his latest blog post. “If I hadn’t looked upon her with my own eyes, I might not have believed that such an elephant could exist in our world.
“If there were a Queen of Elephants, it would surely have been her.”
Burrard-Lucas, in concert with Tsavo Trust and Kenya Wildlife Service, was fortunate to capture stunning photographs of the Queen, doing so just in time as it turned out.
“These are amongst the last images captured of her,” Burrard-Lucas said. “Shortly after they were taken, she died of natural causes. She had survived through periods of terrible poaching and it was a victory that her life was not ended prematurely by a snare, bullet or poisoned arrow.”
Few people outside Tsavo knew about the Queen, so it was “one of the greatest honors” of Burrard-Lucas’s career to be able to photograph her.
The project to photograph the elephants of Tsavo began in August 2017 and culminated in a new book entitled “Land of Giants.”
Tsavo is home to some of the last remaining “big tuskers,” that is, elephants with tusks that weigh more than 100 pounds each. It is believed that less than 20 such elephants remain and half are said to live in Tsavo.
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Burrard-Lucas captured images of the Queen drinking at water holes, eating acacia branches and walking toward the camera. He used a BeetleCame (a remote-controlled camera designed for close-ups) to get some of his compelling photos.
“As a wildlife photographer, a subject like F_MU1 is incredibly rare; a creature that is unique – possibly the most remarkable of her kind – and yet an animal that few have photographed before,” Burrard-Lucas wrote. “The time I spent with her was a real privilege.
Photos courtesy of Will Burrard-Lucas and Tsavo Trust.
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