{"id":226747,"date":"2026-01-04T10:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T10:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/226747\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T10:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T10:48:08","slug":"craig-the-beer-ambassador-elephant-dies-aged-54-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/226747\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig the beer-ambassador elephant dies aged 54"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/africa\/Craig-the-beer-ambassador-elephant-dies-aged-54-2016099?gallery=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/35417177.295.jpg\" alt=\"He lived to a ripe old age and would often pose for photographs, say officials\" title=\"He lived to a ripe old age and would often pose for photographs, say officials\" width=\"295\" height=\"166\" \/> <\/a>He lived to a ripe old age and would often pose for photographs, say officials<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-123\">A Kenyan elephant believed to have been one of Africa&#8217;s largest male tuskers has died of old age.<\/p>\n<p>The pachyderm, fondly known as Craig, died of natural causes on Saturday morning at Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya, conservationists confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Craig had just turned 54 years old. He led a long life and no doubt fathered many calves,&#8221; said the Amboseli Trust for Elephants in its farewell message.<\/p>\n<p>Famed for his long tusks, Craig the elephant was a major attraction at the park near the Tanzanian border. In 2021, he was named an ambassador for the popular Kenyan lager brand Tusker &#8211; a name also used for adult male elephants with tusks.<\/p>\n<p>The Kenya Wildlife Service described Craig as an &#8220;icon&#8221; of successful conservation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Craig was one of the last remaining super tuskers in Africa &#8211; a rare class of bull elephants whose two tusks weigh over 45kg (100lb) each. Fewer than a handful remain today, making him a living monument to Africa&#8217;s natural heritage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The wildlife body also said &#8220;Craig was deeply loved for [his] remarkably calm nature&#8221;, often &#8220;pausing patiently as visitors photographed and filmed him&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thanks to his many protectors, he died peacefully of natural causes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More than two million tourists visited Kenya last year, many of them seeking out wildlife in the country&#8217;s world-famous national parks.<\/p>\n<p>Kenya&#8217;s tourism sector accounts for 10% of national GDP, officials say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He lived to a ripe old age and would often pose for photographs, say officials A Kenyan elephant&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-226747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}