Shawu was named after the Shawu Valley in which he spent much of his life. He was a fairly approachable animal and showed no particular fear or distrust of vehicles.
Shawu was a large bull having a shoulder height of 11ft 2 in (340 cm). His left tusk stretched an incredible 10 ft 5 in (317 cm) from base to tip. In life it curled away from his face in a wide sweep of ivory which then curved inwards and crossed his face below the tip of the right tusk to form a huge pair of pincers. The left tusk of Shawu is the longest tusk on record from the Kruger National Park and one of the six longest ever to come out of Africa. The right tusk measured 10 ft (305 cm) in length. This pair of tusks ranks among the longest pairs in the Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game. While impressively long, these tusks were not very heavy.