The bull, named Satao and likely born in the late 1960s, succumbed to wounds from poison darts in a remote corner of Tsavo National Park where he had migrated to find fresh water after recent storms.
His carcass yesterday lay with its face and great tusks hacked off, four legs splayed where he fell with his last breath, left only for the vultures and the scavengers.
Conservationists told how he moved from bush to bush always keeping his ivory hidden amongst the foliage.
I'm convinced he did that to hide his tusks from humans, he had an awareness that they were a danger to him, said Mark Deeble, a British documentary filmmaker who has spent long periods of time filming Satao. 4951