Overview

• Mohanmala, Assam’s longest-serving departmental elephant and Kaziranga’s last matriarch, died on August 14 at an estimated age of 90.
• She was procured from Kamrup on May 17, 1970, and became a key member of park operations for over fifty years.
• As the park’s ‘unofficial ambulance,’ she took part in anti-poaching patrols, led flood rescues and ferried forest staff through inaccessible terrain.
• Retired around 2012 on her mahout’s recommendation, she lived at Mihimukh elephant camp on a government pension until her death.
• Sources differ on her exact age—estimated between 70 and 90—and her formal retirement date, reflecting gaps in long-term departmental records.