Tusker Agbo's Legendary Tale

Tuskers in Sri Lanka are named after Sri Lankan kings to showcase their royal status, wisdom and esteemed position in culture, reflecting historical associations of elephants with royalty and religious significance. These majestic tusked elephants holds a symbolic connection to leadership and heritage in modern Sri Lanka.

Even this naming helps to express the historical value of anciant Sri Lanka to the world, while it makes a direct impact on wildlife conservation. "Agbo" refers to "King Aggabodhi I"and subsequent kings named "Aggabodhi" in ancient Sri Lanka, who were part of the Anuradhapura Kingdom.

'Aggabodhi I' (reigned 575–608 AD) was known for a peaceful and prosperous reign, marked by stability and generous patronage of poets and the construction of religious sites and irrigation systems. There were few other kings, such as Aggabodhi II(608-618AD), IV(667-683AD), V(718-724AD) and VI(733-772AD), also left significant legacies, including infrastructure development and sometimes navigating complex political situations.

'Tusker Agbo'(T-096) lives in Thirappane area, a part of the ancient Anuradhapura kingdom which has been ruled by those kings named 'Agbo'. This tusker is facing a tough situation due to the Human-Elephant conflict raising in Sri Lanka.

At 2023, Agbo got seriously injured by gunshots on the front leg, making him unable to walk. Remarkably he has been survived after a successful treatment done by the Department of Wildlife Conservation and roaming freely again within his kingdom.

He had known as an aggressive elephant. While under treatments, villagers offered food daily after being sensitive for Agbo's critical situation of being skinny even they were hating his aggressive behaviors.

The unbelievable outcome is, Abgo returned with a peaceful behavior and showed acceptance on human approaches. This story shows how we need to treat these animals and what could be the outcome, leads the way to build an effective conservation strategy to protect Sri Lankan elephants.

As the Aggabodhi kings left their legendary stories, Tusker Agbo is writing his own legendary tale by showing the coexistence with the humans for years with big, bold tusks.