From reality shows, documentaries, Hollywood movies, and innumerable views on YouTube to museum displays, some animals have made a mark to become Kenya’s celebrity animals.
Take the fetching tale of the last two northern white rhinos on earth, and the world’s first IVF rhino pregnancy that may offer hope for their already functionally extinct subspecies. Meet 34-year-old Najin and her daughter Fatu, who have gained celebrity status for their rare status.
The two were brought from a Czech zoo in 2009, along with two males, Sudan and Suni, also celebrities. Back then, there were only seven Northern whites alive, and scientists hoped Kenya’s climate and rich grasslands of Kenya would encourage them to produce a calf after the zoo’s breeding programme failed.
Najin and Fatu who live at the 360 square-kilometre Ol Pejeta Conservancy have become an emblem of the global wildlife crisis. They enjoy a 24/7 armed rhino protection squad, supported by a wider team of rangers and a K9 dog unit.
This protection does not come cheap – it costs about US$850 per month to protect a single rhino.
Elsa the lioness
She was raised along with her sisters, Big One and Lustica, by game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy Adamson after they were orphaned at only a few weeks old (Adamson has accidentally shot their mother).
In the 1960s, Elsa became the most famous animal alive. Though her two sisters eventually went to the Netherlands’ Rotterdam Zoo, Elsa was trained by the Adamson to survive on her own and was released into the world.
Her story is told in several books by Adamson, and the 1966 motion picture Born Free.
Ahmed the Mountain Bull
Born in 1919, Ahmed came from the forest of Marsabit and grew into a giant whose tusks were presumed to be the longest and heaviest.
He became a global celebrity animal benefiting from attention globally, especially when the media blitz led to a 1970 letter-writing campaign by schoolchildren to President Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first President, requesting him to protect this treasurable animal.
Today, a fibreglass replica of Ahmed is displayed on the grounds of the Nairobi National Museum. Inside the museum, his skeleton, and those of great tusks, remain under guard.
Sebastian the superstar chimp
Sebastian lived at the Nairobi Animal Orphanage from 1964. He was brought to the orphanage aged eight years by a family from Zaire that had adopted him. He endeared himself to visitors using his human-like abilities, making him the star attraction at the orphanage for three decades.
Sebastian would mimic what he saw his visitors do. For instance, when given a banana, he would peel, eat the fruit, and throw away the peel. After the delicious meal, he would clap, as a sign of appreciation.
Sometimes his visitors would take his friendship too far. For example, they would offer Seb as he was fondly called cigarettes, which he would gladly take with such glee and happily puff away, unaware of the cancer risk the cigarette sticks carried.
Sadly, Seb was found dead in his cage on the morning of July 19, 1996, at 40 years old after spending 32 years at the orphanage. The body of the celebrity chimp was taken to the Institute of Primate Research in Karen, for a postmortem and subsequent research for the institute.
In memory of Sebastian, Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) erected Sebastian Café and his statue within the same grounds that used to be his home. Next to the café, is a sh200 million, 300-seat Sebastian’s Lecture Theatre.
Kamunyak, the lion who loved an Oryx calf
Have you watched the movie The Lion King? Perhaps Disney Live-Action Director, Jon Favreau should have considered shooting Kamunyak, queen of the Samburu wilderness, instead of re-shooting The Lion King.
Kamunyak was a lioness who lived in Samburu National Reserve in the 2000s. In 2002, the lioness had naturalists on her trail because of her unnatural behavior – adopting Oryx calves that would have otherwise been her meal.
A group of tourists first spotted the lioness with an Oryx calf lying side by side. Before the naturalists could crack the mystery, the rangers took the calf away.
After the rangers took the calf away, the lioness identified another newborn Oryx and took her away from the terrified mother.
As she did with the first calf, she would lie down next to the baby Oryx, and like any protective mother, warded off strangers and predators.
Hundreds of local and international tourists poured into this exceptional park to witness and capture this phenomenon.
The celebrity lioness was named Kamunyak, meaning “the blessed one” in Kisamburu. Reportedly, when the rangers separated the first Oryx from the lioness, sadly, she was devoured by another lioness.
The rangers again stepped in to save the weak antelope as the lioness had no milk to give her. She immediately “adopted” another one, and the hide and seek game between Kamunyak and the rangers went on.
After the lioness adopted Oryx baby number six, the rangers let nature take its course. Kamunyak’s sixth adoptee was a wobbly little Oryx, with its umbilical cord still attached.
The mother at some point reportedly attempted a rescue mission, but the lioness would not let this happen. Sadly, the baby Oryx died, probably out of starvation.
To the surprise of the trailers, Kamunyak did the unexpected (or is it expected?). She ate the baby Oryx, ending a game-watching spectacle that had drawn so many people to the Samburu National Reserve.
After that, the lioness disappeared mysteriously into thin air, with her last recorded sighting in 2004. Despite many coordinated searches, Kamunyak was never seen again.
Mkombozi the dog, a baby saviour
In 2005, a stray dog was spotted dragging an infant wrapped in rags across the busy Ngong Road, Nairobi. The dog carried the infant through a barbed-wire fence into a home. The dog had found the infant while foraging for food at a dumping site near the Racecourse area.
Astonished and dumbfounded, the homeowner called the police. The dog was nicknamed ‘Mkombozi’ (saviour in Kiswahili).
The baby girl was named Angel and was taken to a children’s home, where she stayed for six months and was adopted by a family that sought privacy in raising the child.
Mkombozi was adopted by the Kenya Society for the Care and Protection of Animals (KSCPA). She died of old age in 2014.
