List of historical elephants.
- Abul-Abbas - Charlemagne's elephant
- the Cremona elephant, given to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II by the Sultan of Egypt in 1229.
- Annabelle the painting elephant - was an Indian elephant won in a contest, donated to be Anchorage, Alaska's Alaskan Zoo's first animal in 1964.
- Black Diamond - Indian elephant with Al G. Barnes Circus, killed four people and was subsequently shot in 1929.
- Batyr (1970-93) - the talking elephant of Karaganda Zoo in Kazakhstan.
- Castor and Pollux - served up to the wealthy citizens of Paris during the siege in 1870.
- Chunee - an elephant in the menagerie at Exeter Exchange, executed by soldiers from Somerset House in March 1826
- Hannibal's war elephants - In 218 BC, Hannibal crossed the Alps with 37 elephants in the Second Punic War. Surus (the Syrian) is mentioned as the bravest elephant in the army by Marcus Porcius Cato, the elder in his book Origines.
- Hanno the elephant - pet elephant of Pope Leo X
- Hansken - toured many European countries from 1637 to 1655 demonstrating circus tricks
- John L. Sullivan (Elephant) (1860 ? - 1932) - the famous boxing elephant in Adam Forepaugh's circus. In 1922, he made a pilgrimage from Madison Square Garden to the Elephant Hotel in Somers, New York to pay tribute to Old Bet.
- Jumbo - P. T. Barnum's elephant whose name is the origin of the word "Jumbo" meaning "very large" or "over-sized." The African-Elephant was given the name Jumbo by zookeepers at the London Zoo. The name was most likely derived from the Swahili word "Jumbe" meaning "chief."
- Betty the Learned Elephant- Third elephant and first trained elephant in the United States. After her owner claimed that even bullets couldn't pierce her hide, she was shot by local men in Chepachet, RI on May 25, 1826.
- Fanny- a former circus elephant she resided in Slater Park Zoo in Pawtucket, RI from 1958-93. She was moved to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary in 1993 because the city closed the zoo exhibits due to financial crises. She lived the last 10 years of her life happily and died in 2003. A statue to her memory stands in Slater Park.
- Kandula - the most famous elephant in Sri Lanka was given to an infant prince Dutugemunu (or Dushtagamini) in the 2nd century BC. The king and his elephant grew up together. A Sri Lankan elephant born November 25, 2001, at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. is named after Kandula.
- Kesavan - an Indian elephant, which was associated with the Guruvayur temple in Kerala, India. The elephant was known for its extreme devout behaviour.
- The Kilimanjaro Elephant - It is thought, but not known, that he was killed on the northern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1898. His tusks weighed 237 and 225 pounds, and no other tusk in history ever went over 190 pounds. The British Museum of Natural History bought the pair of them in 1932, and after an attempt was made to steal them in 1937, they were taken off exhibit. Each are more than ten feet long and two feet in circumference at the base. Inspiration for Mike Resnick's book "Ivory: A Legend of Past and Future."
- Lallah Rookh - an elephant with Dan Rice's circus. She died in 1860 soon after swimming across the Ohio River.
- Lin Wang - a Burmese elephant that served with the Chinese Expeditionary Force during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and later moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang army. Lin Wang became a fond childhood memory among many Taiwanese.
- Mahmoud - the lead elephant in the army of Abraha, which attacked the Kaaba in Mecca. Thus, the year became known as the Year of the Elephant and provided a historical ready-reference for the birth date of the prophet of the Muslim religion, Muhammad.
- Mamie - African elephant at the Knoxville Zoo who painted. She passed away March 10, 2006 at 45 years old.
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Mary, 1916. The only known elephant hanging in history.
Mary a.k.a. "Mighty Mary" and "Murderous Mary" - executed on September 13, 1916 in Erwin, Tennessee. She was hanged by a railroad derrick car at the Clinchfield Railroad yard. This is the only known elephant hanging in history. Mary, who toured with the Sparks World Famous Shows circus, killed her inexperienced keeper, Walter "Red" Eldridge, on September 12, 1916 during a circus parade in Kingsport, Tennessee. Eldridge had supposedly hit Mary's tusk or ear when she wandered from the parade line to eat a piece of discarded watermelon.
- Mona (elephant) - euthanized June 21, 2007 at the Birmingham Zoo in Birmingham, Alabama. Thought, at 60, to have been the oldest Asian elephant in the United States. After the death of her companion, Susie, Mona's health and living conditions were the subject of a long campaign to have her transferred out of the zoo to a sanctuary.
- Norma Jean (elephant)--struck by lightning, c. 1972, during a circus parade in Oquawka, Illinois. She was buried where she died, a marker now lies on this spot.
- Old Bet - Early American circus elephant owned by Hachaliah Bailey. On July 24, 1816, she was shot and killed while on tour near Alfred, Maine by a farmer who thought it sinful for poor people to waste money on a travelling circus. Old Bet's owner responded by building a three story memorial called the Elephant Hotel which now serves as a town hall.1
- Packy (1962- fl) - Oregon Zoo (formerly Washington Park Zoo), Portland, Oregon. First Asian elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. Now the lead bull of the zoo's herd and has sired 7 offspring of his own.
- Renee - Toledo Zoo's master elephant artist received formal art training in 1995.
- Rogue elephant of Aberdare Forest - A ferocious bull elephant killed by J.A. Hunter
- Ruby - Famous Elephant artist, resided at the Phoenix Zoo, at least one painting was sold for $100,000.
- Salt and Sauce - Once considered the most famous British elephants of their era and mentioned in several circus books.
- Sissy - an elephant at the El Paso Zoo. In 1999, a videotape showed trainers beating Sissy. After a long public debate, it was determined that Sissy would be sent to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.
- Suleiman the elephant - presented in 1551 to Maximilian II, the Holy Roman Emperor, by John III, the King of Portugal, and named after the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent.
- Surapa - Buffalo Zoo's abstract elephant artist.
- Timur - first elephant to be photographed in the wild May 6, 1896
- Topsy the Elephant - elephant tortured by handlers on Coney Island; after it killed three of them she was executed by Thomas Edison
- Tuffi - a young elephant who fell from Wuppertal's suspended monorail into the river Wupper on July 21, 1950 (she survived the fall)
- Tusko - Billed as the meanest Elephant
- Tyke - a circus elephant who on August 20, 1994 in Honolulu, Hawaii, killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, and gored her groom Dallas Beckwith causing severe injuries during a Circus International performance before hundreds of horrified spectators. Tyke then bolted from the arena and ran through downtown streets of Kakaako for more than thirty minutes. Police fired 86 shots at Tyke who eventually collapsed from the wounds and died.
- Ziggy (elephant) - an elephant from Brookfield Zoo
- Icy Mike - an elephant that lived and died on Mount Kenya, 4.4km (14,000ft) above sea level. This is unusual as it demands high energy consumption.
References
- ^ Scigliano, Eric Love, War, and Circuses: The Age Old Relationship Between Elephants and Humans Houghton Mifflin. 2002. pg 182
See also
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