He is a 43 years old bull born in 1965 and one of the best known and studied bulls by the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. Now at 43, he is a fully mature male Elephant and at his prime. A couple of big notches on his left rugged ear are easy marks for his identification but that is not what gets your attention when one encounters a bull of Kalume's beauty. His tusks are a thing to be adored, they are huge, well proportioned and just about the best you would ever find on any African Elephant. Elephant tusks are a mark of their beauty. During his musth period, he walks with a beautiful swagger just like all musth bulls do but equipped with such beautiful white sparkling tusks, Kalume beats all the other males. He is also a very calm bull and not aggressive even when in musth. We (research team) are never alert when close to him as we have over the years become a part of our Amboseli Elephants, and they seem to have accepted us.

Kalume's impressive long tusks can also prove to be a disadvantage to him. Over the years we have seen bulls with shorter and thick tusks to be deadly during fights, but that is not one of my worries about Kalume. My worst fear is that, sometimes I can't help but to think of Kalume as a walking target to poachers and hunters. It would be a shame to loose such a fine breed to individual greed and gain. I uphold my fellow human beings to help conserve, protect and ensure the future of our wild animals for our generations to come.