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Wild tusker · Udawalawe

Walawe Raja

වලවේ රාජා வளவே ராஜா

Walawe Raja
Sumudusoyza007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A photo of a Sri Lankan Elephant — not this animal

Walawe Raja (often just ‘Raja’) was the best-known tusker of Udawalawe National Park. For years he came into the park each year around June/July to October, usually in musth, and stayed three to four months. He starred in the BBC film ‘The Last Tusker’ and in ‘Between Two Worlds’, broke one tusk around 2005 (it later began to regrow) and was treated several times by wildlife vets for wounds, some apparently from gunshots. He disappeared in late 2010; a search that ended in early 2011 did not find him, and writers who followed him believe he is no longer alive.

Sources

  1. The missing Raja of Uda Walawe National Park — eTurboNews (Srilal Miththapala), 13 Sep 2010
  2. In search of a king — Daily FT (Cheranka Mendis), 13 Jul 2013
  3. Wild elephant antics and broken tusks — Daily FT (Srilal Miththapala), 21 Apr 2018
  4. Raja (Walawe Raja) missing — Sunday Times Plus, Nov 2010