Death of Echo

Cynthia Moss blog at http://elephanttrust.org

May 3, 2009

I have some very sad news to relay. Echo died today at 2:42pm in Amboseli. She collapsed yesterday morning and was unable to get up. ATE staff Katito and Robert stayed with her the whole time. We believe she died from a combination of old age and the long three-year drought Amboseli has been experiencing.

Echo was probably the best known wild elephant in the world because she featured in three BBC documentaries about her and her family: Echo of the Elephants; Echo of the Elephants, the Next Generation; and Echo of the Elephants, the Final Chapter? as well as the book Echo of the Elephants. In addition she was in many other films, most recently the film about Martyn Colbeck's work called An Eye for An Elephant., and photographs of her have been seen around the world.

I arrived in the US a few days ago to start a fund-raising tour so I was not there for Echo's passing. I'm cancelling my trip and flying back to Kenya tomorrow. I need to be with my staff who are devastated and also to start observing the family to see how they will react to the loss of their matriarch.

Echo was the leader of her family for at least 36 years. When we first recorded her in 1973 her family numbered seven. At her death it numbered 40. For all of them, except for her sister Ella, Echo was the only leader they have ever known. The loss will be very disturbing and disrupting for them.

For us on the Amboseli Elephant Research Project she has been an invaluable research subject providing us with insights into elephant behavior, leadership, communication, social relations and intelligence. But she was more than that. She was a daily presence, almost a companion to all of us. She gave us joy and filled us with wonder.

What sad news. My thoughts are with Cynthia and all the wonderful Amboseli Elephant Research Project staff and of course, the devastated family that Echo leaves behind.
I last saw Echo leading several families across the plains three years ago...it had just rained and the grass was green and lush and I was with Cynthia Moss who was smiling at the beauty of the scene.
Echo was a consummate and majestic matriarch! Farewell, great lady!

Sad to hear of Echo's passing but her life has enriched so many others & with the media coverage of her life I am sure, unknown to her, she has helped conservation immensely.

YES it's sad when a close friend goes being it a human or elephant.............we are all so closely connected which makes it even harder to accept. But this is meant to be circle of live which we all have to follow and to face.

Exactly. We shouldn't grieve for her death - but instead celebrate her long and fruitful life.

Rest in peace Echo.

Sad news - however positive Jan as always; grazie.