Kenya's most famous elephant, Craig, died on January 3, 2025 at the age of 54, bringing to an end the life of one of Africa’s most photographed and closely protected elephants. The Amboseli Bull, was revered globally for carrying some of the largest tusks ever recorded and for symbolising decades of successful wildlife conservation in the country.

Born in January 1972 to the matriarch Cassandra of the CB family, Craig lived a remarkable life that few elephants experience. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said he was among the last remaining super tuskers in Africa, a rare class of bull elephants whose two tusks each weigh over 45 kilograms. Craig’s tusks, estimated at over 50 kilograms each, made him a living symbol of Africa’s natural heritage.

Conservation groups and wildlife authorities said he died of natural causes after showing signs of distress overnight, with rangers staying close by. His final hours seemed to reflect age, not violence: intermittent collapsing, short attempts to stand and move, and evidence that he was no longer chewing properly as his last molars wore down. For an elephant, teeth often write the closing chapter.

Craig was not obscure. He was, by most accounts, one of the most photographed elephants in Africa, and perhaps the best-known “super tusker” alive.

He was also known for temperament: calm around vehicles, patient in the presence of cameras, and unusually tolerant of the attention that followed him. That quality, as much as the ivory he carried, helped make him a symbol of what protection can look like when it is consistent enough to last decades.

Craig was also closely guarded by KWS rangers and Maasai warriors due to the value of his tusks, which made him a target for poachers. He was a cousin to the late Tim, another famed super tusker whose tusks nearly reached the ground and each weighed up to 45 kilograms.

Tim, who passed in 2020, survived numerous dangers, including getting stuck in a swamp in 2018, and was known for his intelligence and unusual social preferences, often enjoying the company of matriarchal herds. Tim's remains are conserved in the national museum.

Just like Tim, even in death, Craig's legacy will live on. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) carefully removed his iconic ground-sweeping tusks for official conservation and security purposes.

Under the framework of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (WCMA), animals with valuable parts, such as tusks or rhino horn, when they die of natural causes like craig, the state takes custody. These remains are processed as "Government Trophy" and are securely stored or disposed of to prevent any illegal wildlife trade.

That Craig died of natural causes is not a small detail. It is, by modern standards, an achievement. Elephants with tusks like his have been selected against by poachers for half a century. In parts of Africa, big-tusk genetics have been edited out with bullets. The continental population collapsed from about 1.3 million in 1979 to roughly 600,000 by 1989. Today it is often put at around 400,000–415,000—a number that reflects both local recoveries and vast, unresolved losses. Forest elephants remain in particularly grim shape, hollowed out across Central Africa.

Conservation officials are exploring moving Craig’s remains to the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.

The legendary super tusker of Amboseli was more than an elephant—he was a reminder of a time when giants still moved freely across open landscapes, unbothered by fences or fear. With tusks that swept close to the ground and a calm presence that commanded respect, Craig became a living symbol of what Africa once was, and can still be. His life stood as quiet proof that with protection, patience, and community stewardship, the largest elephants on Earth can still walk these plains in peace.