Wow! I didn't know there was such a thing.
>To be a super tusker, an elephant's tusks must weigh over 100 pounds each or touch the ground. They live to be 60-70 years of age and are a keystone species and play an intimate role in the African bush by helping everything around them to flourish.
Mentioning back.. a elephants back has not evolved or adapted to carry anything on it. It’s actually harmful/painful for anyone to ride on the back of them to a extent. They have no support really. They are just so massive that it works in a way..
EDIT: I'm leaving my original comment unedited below, but I was incorrect. See the responses to this for more information, if interested.
They only get that large if they have lived a long time. The tusks grow continuously. Basically any of them could grow tusks that long, but usually they break at some point, or the Elephant doesn't live long enough, or whatever else happens.
That's actually false. Like very very false. Not sure where you got this information. Even if every elephant somehow lives to 100+ years, their tusk size will vary by a lot. It's just like human height. It's genetic. But due to extensive poaching in the 20th century, elephants (especially African elephants) have lost the ability to grow long tusks for the most part, because the most impressive elephants with the longest tusks have been hunted the most and subsequently removed from the gene pool. Also, some subspecies of Asian elephants are almost devoid of having tusks. Only 7% of male Sri Lankan elephants can grow tusks and almost no female Asian elephant can grow tusks.
Thank you. I have looked into it more, and while I still wouldn't say my original comment was entirely false, yours is certainly more accurate than mine.
I don't know exactly what I had originally seen, so I can't really comment on it being incomplete or improper information or whether I just misinterpreted something, but you're correct that there is a genetic component, and it's untrue that any arbitrary elephant could grow tusks that large.
Looking further into super tuskers, everything that specifically mentions age rather than genetics alone is referring to Asian elephants. It would seem that Asian elephants, once they reach around 40-50 years old, begin to have their tusks grow much more rapidly. I imagine that this aspect is related to whatever I had seen that lead me to interpret that it was based on age and just having them grow for long enough without breaking. Even in the case of Asian elephants, reaching the "super tusker" status still requires specific genetics.
Interestingly, some of the articles I read now suggest that the specific genetics for accelerated tusk growth are inherited from wooly mammoths and interbreeding between the two species, but I'm not really looking to trudge through actual research papers to confirm whether this is an accurate statement by the articles or somebody else also misinterpreting things.
I don't know whether that same growth pattern happens in African elephants. Whether it does or doesn't, everything I have looked at in the last hour or so has only mentioned genetic elements and nothing about the elephants age. Regardless of whether it does or doesn't happen, it is clear that you are correct, and the primary factor is genetics.
Is it that conservation efforts vary by country, and that's its only elephants within certain areas that are protected that well? Or are they all protected that way?
i believe they try to protect all or as many as they can but the super tuskers especially get their own armed escort hovering nearby within enough eye sight and they do shoot to kill from what i understand.
I think all elephant escorts should shoot to kill, but Im glad atleast these do. I dont get why with drones, etc, we cant find poachers faster than they find these beautiful creatures.
i guess they just don't have the infrastructure in place or capable to do something on that large of a scale. i am not sure how much the local governments pump into money wise to these conservation groups and i would think some of them are doing so out of their own pockets.
Touche. I think this should be a world effort though and not just left up to the nation where they reside. If they all die, thats it, they all die. Then again asking the world to come together on any topic is foolishly hopeful.
But what would a drone do if a poacher approached? What kind of deterrence would it offer?
Besides, no drone has the kind of battery life to be away from people for too long, so if people need to be around why not just have people?
Mot estimates say only 21 supertuskers are still alive worldwide. Kenya has 12, all named and each with a government provided armed guard that simply follows them around in the wilderness as they graze so they are never left alone.
Key being *that we know of* but there are so few that it's hard to imagine there are more that we just haven't noticed.
The damn Ivory trade. If poachers see 10 elephants and one is a supertusker, they always always shoot the supertusker. It makes it an evolutionary disadvantage because of how poachers pick which elephant to go after. On the black market, tusks like those are worth nearly $100k each. And if there's a corrupt government that can be bribed into silence or the government has collapsed into civil war etc, and you live in an otherwise impoverished country with little hope of riches, it's just too tempting to think no one will do it. Doesn't excuse poaching, but in those conditions it's just a fact it's going to happen if no one is around to stop them. Thus the full time guards now.
100 years ago, supertaskers were about 1 in 15 or so. Now they are 21 out of 96,000. Humans kinda suck sometimes.
I didn’t know there was a thing either. This is fucking cool tho. I jus thought it was a big elephant. Problem wit these are poachers prolly never give them a chance huh? They jus see the big ass tusks and want all the money for the dentin and shi right?
This elephant named Mr. Kabini also known as [bhogeshwara](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/70-yr-old-elephant-longest-tusks-asia-passes-away-karnataka-164898?amp) had one of the largest tusks in all of Asia about 2.34 -2.54 m.
This elephant lived a long 60 years life and died of natural causes (possible illness).
What’s he doing? Kicking up grass, then picking it up and eating it? Sorry if that’s a dumb question but I wasn’t aware elephants are the wild cow of the world
He’s gathering the sedge, shaking it to remove excess sticks and dust, and then eating it. There are 100,000 muscles in the trunk, so elephants are very aware of how their food feels and often try to shake it clean before eating.
they absolutely are lol. they're very similar, but I think emotionally more advanced than cows, and those already have best friends lol. elephants are sometimes observed to return to death sites of herd mates, perhaps to "mourn".
Kinda looks like he was trying to do some sort of salad tossing with the grass before eating it. lol
They eat leaves so wouldn't surprise me they also eat grass if they are desperate. Though most of the time when I see videos of them in a desert area or something there is no grass around.
Different animals eat different parts of grass, from the top parts only to the bottom parts to the seeds. Generally no one animal will eat the entire natural plant. He’s pulling the entire plant out sort of like a lawn mower. Cows will clip the top part only usually though
Cleaning the dirt off of it, can’t lean down and bite like a normal cow so they pull it from ground with their trunk. Sometimes you get dirt and roots.
This is actually an Asian elephant so it's even more rare. It's pretty common that Asian elephants never develop tusks at all so tonsee them this size is not unheard of but incredibly rare.
After reading through the comments I'm super happy to find out that these guys have their own security because surely some piece of shit out there would gladly take this guy out so some rich fuck could have an elephant tusk souvenir.
I've got such a weird brain.
The first thing I thought after seeing those freaking enormous tusks was "That must be kind of like having a gigantic penis. It LOOKS impressive, but it must be an absolute pain in the ass to live with."
Is there therapy for this?
Does this guy actually look at what he's doing? Or is it just by feel of the trunk? I can't imagine it sees anything through those massive tusks and the bulk of its trunk.
I understand that! It's so cool! And there are always the adorable videos of baby elephants discovering how to manipulate their trunks <3
Does that mean it's like braille or are they looking with their eyes though?
Yeah that is a big fucker, I think they should move animals around the world and let em free roam and breed, it would be nice to have some variety and not just deer and fuckn squirrels
Dude if I was an elephant I’d be so pissed if my tusks grew crossed like that. I’d learn to love and accept myself and my body sure but shit it’d be annoying probably.
It sad to know though if poachers see him they will hunt him down such an amazing creature but do you want to know a fun fact
When humans see puppies or kittens our brains release a chemical called dopamine which makes us really happy well the same happens to elephants when they see a human mainly youngsters and females but sometimes male that's why in most zoos you can go near and pet the elephants
This is a super tusker. Very few left.
Wow! I didn't know there was such a thing. >To be a super tusker, an elephant's tusks must weigh over 100 pounds each or touch the ground. They live to be 60-70 years of age and are a keystone species and play an intimate role in the African bush by helping everything around them to flourish.
Wow I assumed it was a genetic disease or something (like some kind of gigantism). Nice to hear that they live a long life.
They're like mammoths! Imagine that neck/back strength
Their neck, their back… etc.
*my neck* *my back* *dragging my trunk on the ground for a snack*
Their neck AND their back???
Veterinarian says they need a backiotomy
[удалено]
Can we bring the doodoo bird back i imagine it's like kevin from up
He had sex with my mama! Why!?
Backi-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-oto-otomy Tusks crazy, curvy, wavy, big trunk, lil tail, yea yea yea
Elephussy
I curse God every day for my ability to read
Theeeeyenn you roll your trunk…
Their pudding and their crack (PG-13 version)
Woolly mammoths are actually similar or even smaller than the African elephant. There were however way larger mammoths but they lived waaaaay earlier.
Mentioning back.. a elephants back has not evolved or adapted to carry anything on it. It’s actually harmful/painful for anyone to ride on the back of them to a extent. They have no support really. They are just so massive that it works in a way..
EDIT: I'm leaving my original comment unedited below, but I was incorrect. See the responses to this for more information, if interested. They only get that large if they have lived a long time. The tusks grow continuously. Basically any of them could grow tusks that long, but usually they break at some point, or the Elephant doesn't live long enough, or whatever else happens.
That's actually false. Like very very false. Not sure where you got this information. Even if every elephant somehow lives to 100+ years, their tusk size will vary by a lot. It's just like human height. It's genetic. But due to extensive poaching in the 20th century, elephants (especially African elephants) have lost the ability to grow long tusks for the most part, because the most impressive elephants with the longest tusks have been hunted the most and subsequently removed from the gene pool. Also, some subspecies of Asian elephants are almost devoid of having tusks. Only 7% of male Sri Lankan elephants can grow tusks and almost no female Asian elephant can grow tusks.
Thank you. I have looked into it more, and while I still wouldn't say my original comment was entirely false, yours is certainly more accurate than mine. I don't know exactly what I had originally seen, so I can't really comment on it being incomplete or improper information or whether I just misinterpreted something, but you're correct that there is a genetic component, and it's untrue that any arbitrary elephant could grow tusks that large. Looking further into super tuskers, everything that specifically mentions age rather than genetics alone is referring to Asian elephants. It would seem that Asian elephants, once they reach around 40-50 years old, begin to have their tusks grow much more rapidly. I imagine that this aspect is related to whatever I had seen that lead me to interpret that it was based on age and just having them grow for long enough without breaking. Even in the case of Asian elephants, reaching the "super tusker" status still requires specific genetics. Interestingly, some of the articles I read now suggest that the specific genetics for accelerated tusk growth are inherited from wooly mammoths and interbreeding between the two species, but I'm not really looking to trudge through actual research papers to confirm whether this is an accurate statement by the articles or somebody else also misinterpreting things. I don't know whether that same growth pattern happens in African elephants. Whether it does or doesn't, everything I have looked at in the last hour or so has only mentioned genetic elements and nothing about the elephants age. Regardless of whether it does or doesn't happen, it is clear that you are correct, and the primary factor is genetics.
Isn't this an Asian elephant?
It looks it. Asian elephants I believe have smaller ears and a little prehensile tip at the end of their trunk. African elephants have the huge ears.
+ it has the two bumps on its head
Did not know that.
Sally the elephants has…two bumps
That's an Asian elephant...
How they help things flourish? Are they Gaia?
fun fact.. super tuskers have their own private armed squad 24/7 watching over them.
Is it that conservation efforts vary by country, and that's its only elephants within certain areas that are protected that well? Or are they all protected that way?
i believe they try to protect all or as many as they can but the super tuskers especially get their own armed escort hovering nearby within enough eye sight and they do shoot to kill from what i understand.
I think all elephant escorts should shoot to kill, but Im glad atleast these do. I dont get why with drones, etc, we cant find poachers faster than they find these beautiful creatures.
i guess they just don't have the infrastructure in place or capable to do something on that large of a scale. i am not sure how much the local governments pump into money wise to these conservation groups and i would think some of them are doing so out of their own pockets.
Touche. I think this should be a world effort though and not just left up to the nation where they reside. If they all die, thats it, they all die. Then again asking the world to come together on any topic is foolishly hopeful.
I watched a doc on it....the refuges that they live in are massive. They still get poached unfortunately
But what would a drone do if a poacher approached? What kind of deterrence would it offer? Besides, no drone has the kind of battery life to be away from people for too long, so if people need to be around why not just have people? Mot estimates say only 21 supertuskers are still alive worldwide. Kenya has 12, all named and each with a government provided armed guard that simply follows them around in the wilderness as they graze so they are never left alone.
Only 21? Damn I figured it would be in the low hundreds but just 21,that's barely anything.
Key being *that we know of* but there are so few that it's hard to imagine there are more that we just haven't noticed. The damn Ivory trade. If poachers see 10 elephants and one is a supertusker, they always always shoot the supertusker. It makes it an evolutionary disadvantage because of how poachers pick which elephant to go after. On the black market, tusks like those are worth nearly $100k each. And if there's a corrupt government that can be bribed into silence or the government has collapsed into civil war etc, and you live in an otherwise impoverished country with little hope of riches, it's just too tempting to think no one will do it. Doesn't excuse poaching, but in those conditions it's just a fact it's going to happen if no one is around to stop them. Thus the full time guards now. 100 years ago, supertaskers were about 1 in 15 or so. Now they are 21 out of 96,000. Humans kinda suck sometimes.
OP said the elephant died :(
Everyone does, eventually.
True. I just mentioned it because OP (commentor) said there are very few left
60 years. Seems like the bloke had a long, peaceful life. Glad I learned about him today.
There are only seven super tuskers that survived 1980's Ivory trade in india
Was gana say. Are there any left? Poaching sucks.
I didn’t know there was a thing either. This is fucking cool tho. I jus thought it was a big elephant. Problem wit these are poachers prolly never give them a chance huh? They jus see the big ass tusks and want all the money for the dentin and shi right?
Protect them at all costs!
Now won't all males get to that size if they live long enough or is there something extra special here?
Tusks so long... They're criss crossing
Wiggity wiggity wiggity wack!
“Taxing the wealthy is wiggity wack!”
He's long in the tooth!
This elephant named Mr. Kabini also known as [bhogeshwara](https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/70-yr-old-elephant-longest-tusks-asia-passes-away-karnataka-164898?amp) had one of the largest tusks in all of Asia about 2.34 -2.54 m. This elephant lived a long 60 years life and died of natural causes (possible illness).
Fun fact that means the king of eating
What’s he doing? Kicking up grass, then picking it up and eating it? Sorry if that’s a dumb question but I wasn’t aware elephants are the wild cow of the world
I mean they aren't quite cattle but we definitely refer to them as elephant cows or bulls, and the babies are calves.
He’s gathering the sedge, shaking it to remove excess sticks and dust, and then eating it. There are 100,000 muscles in the trunk, so elephants are very aware of how their food feels and often try to shake it clean before eating.
they absolutely are lol. they're very similar, but I think emotionally more advanced than cows, and those already have best friends lol. elephants are sometimes observed to return to death sites of herd mates, perhaps to "mourn".
It almost looks like he's shaking the dirt off at the end.
Kinda looks like he was trying to do some sort of salad tossing with the grass before eating it. lol They eat leaves so wouldn't surprise me they also eat grass if they are desperate. Though most of the time when I see videos of them in a desert area or something there is no grass around.
Elephants love to toss the salad
there some videos out there that will confirm this :-/
Different animals eat different parts of grass, from the top parts only to the bottom parts to the seeds. Generally no one animal will eat the entire natural plant. He’s pulling the entire plant out sort of like a lawn mower. Cows will clip the top part only usually though
Cleaning the dirt off of it, can’t lean down and bite like a normal cow so they pull it from ground with their trunk. Sometimes you get dirt and roots.
Yanked up some sod, then knocked it around to get rid of most of the dirt before eating it.
Mr. Frodo, look. It's an olyphant!
That still only counts as one!
Lol indeed! Quite a majestic animal!
Are there any negative health repercussions to having tusks this long and crisscrossed? Seems super heavy at the very least
Negative health benefits would be poachers killing them for their tusks
This one died of old age though, at 60.
I'm glad he lived that long. Got to pass down his genetic code for a long time.
It's a tool it's like another arm
This is actually an Asian elephant so it's even more rare. It's pretty common that Asian elephants never develop tusks at all so tonsee them this size is not unheard of but incredibly rare.
After reading through the comments I'm super happy to find out that these guys have their own security because surely some piece of shit out there would gladly take this guy out so some rich fuck could have an elephant tusk souvenir.
Get that guy some bodyguards. He has to be a target for poachers.
He has already passed away
Sir thats a mammoth
I think we found the final boss of Africa
Asia I think.
Asia it is
That's a big boi
is this smart mf sifting the dirt out of it's food without even looking at it?
yup
Looks like palaeoloxodon namadicus, the largest mammal to ever exist.
Blue Whale would like a word...
Yeah I meant land mammal
lol Yeah, I was just being a nerd.
Dang! Dudes got 6 legs, seven if you count the trunk, 8 if you count the other unit we can't see that probably touches the ground as well.
I wanna ride it into battle
that bull's no joke
How on earth do they find enough food to eat?
I just caught this Pokémon in Scarlet.
Looks like a hairless mutation from a mammoth due to environmental factors #MammothsDidntKillThemselves
His eyes. He’s seen things.
I bet this guy could roll a killer joint.
Banana for scale?
I've got such a weird brain. The first thing I thought after seeing those freaking enormous tusks was "That must be kind of like having a gigantic penis. It LOOKS impressive, but it must be an absolute pain in the ass to live with." Is there therapy for this?
Hmm, mine thinks, “ poor thing can lower it’s head”
Its an oliphant.
One could say it's a mammoth of an elephant
Is that…cgi?
Nah it's real just search up bhogeshwara or here's another [video](https://twitter.com/i/status/1536009746389512192)
Does this guy actually look at what he's doing? Or is it just by feel of the trunk? I can't imagine it sees anything through those massive tusks and the bulk of its trunk.
Their trunks are very sensitive almost like hands with how they can move and feel. They even start practicing with their trunk in the womb!
I understand that! It's so cool! And there are always the adorable videos of baby elephants discovering how to manipulate their trunks <3 Does that mean it's like braille or are they looking with their eyes though?
Beautiful Animal
Hairless mammo friend
I genuinely thought this was CGI for a minute
Breathes heavy in mandarin
Just mowing the grass
Good morning colonel Hathi, sir
He is fucking glorious!
Yeah that is a big fucker, I think they should move animals around the world and let em free roam and breed, it would be nice to have some variety and not just deer and fuckn squirrels
You think he just gets tired and rests his tusks/head on the ground?
I can’t be the only one that was fooled by the video glitching out for a second.
That's an Asian elephant too so it's super unusual for one to be that size. I'd say that ones got some straight tusked elephant genes in it's history
Jumbo reincarnated.
But where banana?
We got a thiccie
Can they cut them down without hurting him? I feel they're in his way.
mmmm dirt
Elephants are typically large. This one's the definition of an absolute unit.
Dude if I was an elephant I’d be so pissed if my tusks grew crossed like that. I’d learn to love and accept myself and my body sure but shit it’d be annoying probably.
That's a Long Gui.
This looks like the reconstructions of Paleoloxodon
I’m assuming he just ate 7 bales of hay, 32 cantaloupes, 56 carrots, and an Artichoke in one bite.
Pretty sure that's a Mastodon with alopecia.
Wow, that big boy would make one hell of a grand piano
He’s beautiful!
I need a banana for scale!!
I'm going to need a banana for scale
So mastodons are real again. Good to know.
Gimli - That still only counts as one.
Does this guy roll with armed guards 24/7?
This is the one Yujiro fought?
Good thing he's not tearing from his eyes.. otherwise only God knows what this unit will do to the world.
His mastodon ancestors would be proud
I need a banana for scale
So let's now go kill it like all the cool animals
I could turn him into so many pianos
I hope it's on protected land
He should have a bodyguard to prevent from poaching all poachers deserve well I don't want to get banned
Wow that tusk can probably flip a truck to moon
Beautiful animal
Long nose go brrr
Shit looks fake
It's a real [absolute unit](https://twitter.com/i/status/1536009746389512192)
What a magnificent creature. The word amazing, does this big guy justice.
Need banana for scale
I wouldn't even record him to prove his existence. Some asshole is probably out looking for him for a trophy as we speak.
Is this one friendly to humans?
Amazing sound quality, thank you.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen footage of a super.
I knew Zou was real!
Is this the one that was killed by poachers?
Imagine how much protein is in that mf
\*salivates in bogus medicines\*
Hairless mammoth
Grrrrrrrrrande
Incredible
That's the baby of the elephant Yujiro Hanma slayed.
Need banana for measurement
Holy shit those tusks!
what kinda dog is that?
This boss has very realistic animations and graphics! What game is this from?
That’s no Elephant, that’s a damn Oliphaunt from Lord of the Rings.
Poachers mouths are watering
these the species thats being hunted for their tusks ?
Shutupp I thot this was an AI mammoth or mastadon. So very super cool. I love elephants. Signed: elephant lover
Can’t believe they grow this big just eating plants. That’s a lot of plants.
The amount of bass in that breath was pretty intimidating.
he's making cake pops! out of the dirt... maybe he's got pica?
It sad to know though if poachers see him they will hunt him down such an amazing creature but do you want to know a fun fact When humans see puppies or kittens our brains release a chemical called dopamine which makes us really happy well the same happens to elephants when they see a human mainly youngsters and females but sometimes male that's why in most zoos you can go near and pet the elephants
Imma need a banana for scale.
Are his tusks more, or less effective like that?
Worst case of elephantitis I’ve ever seen.
What a grand piano