SEE How Hungry Zimbabweans Savaged A Dead Elephant Into Skeleton In 2hrs

A magnificent bull elephant struck down in his old age.

But for the starving of Zimbabwe, it was little short of a miracle.

The carcass provided a vital source of food, and hundreds of desperate villagers in the Gonarezhou National Park descended on the dead animal within minutes of its discovery.

Using machetes, axes and knives made from tin cans they set upon the six-ton carcass, which was found deep in scrubland.

Within minutes, starving villagers arrive at the carcass.

It took just one hour and 47 minutes for the 13ft-tall elephant to be reduced to a skeleton.

Every part was used for food, even the trunk and ears.

The bones of the 70-year-old animal were taken to boil for soup and within 24 hours nothing was left but a blood-stained patch of earth.

The images are undeniably shocking.

But they illustrate the terrible lengths to which Zimbabweans are forced to go just to survive.