Echo

In the shadows of Africa's highest peak known as Mount Kilimanjaro lived a family of elephants. This particular elephant family numbered forty members which is an extremely large size for an elephant family (most are half that size). The matriarch of this family was a female named Echo who successfully led the family for over thirty years.

During that time Echo proved to be quite a special elephant and became known around the world for her exceptional qualities. She was known as an extremely strong and capable leader who unfailingly protected her family from all dangers, known and unknown. She possessed a unique combination of strength, sensitivity, loyalty, and patience. If a family member was injured and dying (thereby prevent the family from moving on to its next location), Echo would stay by the sick elephant's side until the very end.

Echo continually and quietly displayed the strength, patience and loyalty that made her special not only to her elephant family, but to the world. In times that required it, she embodied everything that our fast-paced world seems to be somehow losing: the ability to simply wait. Other times required her to carefully relocate her family out of harm's way. During times of drought it was her responsibility to help her large family find water and food sources when they were scarce. It was her strength and resolve that enabled her to ensure that her family avoided attacks by lions and other predators.

Echo passed away in 2009 from natural causes at the age of sixty-three. She leaves behind not only the remaining thirty-nine members of her family, but a very special and enduring legacy. A legacy that won't soon be forgotten and will stand as a testament to values we hold dear.

Strength. Patience. Loyalty. Resolve. Perseverance.

Echo.

Photo of Echo copyright WildlifeDirect.

Animals Matter.