On June 11, a tusker known by different names to different people – Longcross, Bogeshwara, and even Mr Kabini – died in Gundre in the Nagarhole-Bandipur forest region in Karnataka.
This Asian elephant had roamed the Kabini backwaters for around 50-60 years. He was an outstanding animal because of his long tusks which touched the ground and crossed each other at the end.
He came to be known in recent years as Bogeshwara, since he was seen often in the region called Bogeshwara in Kabini.
Socio-ecology researcher T.N.C. Vidya, who studies Asian elephants in the Kabini region, first saw this elephant in 2000, when she was doing her Masters at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
Members of the UK-based Scientific Exploration Society were collaborating with Prof. Sukumar from IISc, Bengaluru, and they were trying to take pictures of animals in Kabini and other places. When she had gone with them to Kabini, they spotted this elephant for the first time for them.
She named him Longcross, for even then, when he was about 20-30 years old, his tusks were so long that they crossed at the end.
Reporting and script: Shubashree Desikan
Production: Johan Sathyadas J.
Voiceover: Abhinaya Sriram
