A 39-year-old male tusker 'Drona' collapsed and died at the Thithimathi Elephant Camp in Nagarahole National Park here on Friday.
The elephant tusker was known for carrying Golden Howda during Dasara procession in Mysuru. He was said to be 2.69 metres tall and weighed nearly 3,900 kg.
As per the Thithimathi Elephant Camp authorities, the incident occurred when the tusker went to drink water from a nearby water tank but suddenly collapsed and died. Reportedly, the tusker had been showing sign of illness since morning.
The mahout who first saw the elephant lying dead said he suspected it died of a heart attack. However, doctors will conduct a postmortem on Saturday to know the exact cause of the death.
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