List of historical elephants
This is a list of historical elephants by name.
A - F
- Annabelle, known for her painting skills; an Indian elephant won in a contest, donated to be Anchorage, Alaska's Alaskan Zoo's first animal in 1964
- Ayed, female elephant favoured by Tipoo Sultan the Tiger of Mysore. She was killed in 1799: the British cut her heels to make her kneel even though suspected to be pregnant but the dignity of the elephant was such that she died on foot.
- Abul-Abbas - Charlemagne's elephant
- Baby Roger, purchased at age two by the children of Providence for the Roger Williams Park Zoo in 1893. in 1901, a Long Island filmmaker made a short about him, "A Visit to Baby Roger". He was much loved until he grew older and became irritable and was sold to a circus in 1915. He toured Europe and was killed in Georgia after attacking his keeper and killing a female elephant who was stealing his hay.
- Bandoola, an elephant in the Burma Campaign of WWII; he was named after the Burmese general Maha Bandula and incidents in his life are described in the books Elephant Bill and Bandoola by Lt. Col. J. H. Williams (Williams concludes that he had been killed by his mahout Po Toke)
- Batyr (1970–93), the "talking elephant" of Karaganda Zoo in Kazakhstan
- Betty the Learned Elephant, the third elephant and first trained elephant in the United States. After her owner claimed that even bullets could not pierce her hide, she was shot by local men in Chepachet, Rhode Island on May 25, 1826.
- Black Diamond, Indian elephant with Al G. Barnes Circus; killed four people and was subsequently shot in 1929
- 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
- the Cremona elephant, given to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II by the Sultan of Egypt in 1229
- Fanny the elephant, a former circus elephant she resided in Slater Park Zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island 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 ten years of her life happily and died in 2003. A statue to her memory stands in Slater Park.
G - O
- Hannibal's war elephants which crossed the Alps in 218 BC, 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
- Hattie of New York City's Central Park Zoo, in 1903 was described as the "most intelligent of all elephants"[1]
- Icy Mike, an elephant that lived and died on Mount Kenya, 4.4 km (14,000 ft) above sea level. This is unusual as it demands high energy consumption.
- John L. Sullivan (1860? – 1932), the 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 the elephant.
- 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". The Tufts University mascot is named after Jumbo. In Mysore, India Vijayadashami Elephant procession during Dasara is called as Jumbo Savari (referred to as Jumbo Savari by the British during their control of Mysore State). The original name to this procession is Jumbi Savari (going to the Banni(Shami)tree). Now Goddess Chamundeshwari is taken in procession on an Elephant. But the "Jumbo" name is still intact.
- Jumbo was the name of another elephant, used by John Hoyte et al. to cross the Alps in 1959 to retrace Hannibal's march across the Alps.
- Kandula, the most famous elephant of 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 extremely devout behaviour.
- The Kilimanjaro Elephant, recognized for the enormousness of its tusks. His tusks weighed 237 and 225 lb, and no other tusk in history ever went over 190 lb. Each are more than ten feet long and two feet in circumference at the base. It was thought (but not known) that he was killed on the northern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in 1898. The British Museum of Natural History bought the pair of tusks in 1932, and after an attempt was made to steal them in 1937, they were taken off exhibit. Inspiration for Mike Resnick's book Ivory: A Legend of Past and Future.
- Kolakolli, an Indian rogue elephant from Peppara sanctuary that died in captivity in 2006.
- 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. When he died in 2003, he was (and still is) the longest-living captive elephant at 86.
- 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 Muhammad of the Muslim religion.
- Mamie, an African elephant at the Knoxville Zoo who painted. She died March 10, 2006 at 45 years old.
- Mary a.k.a. "Mighty Mary" and "Murderous Mary", a circus elephant 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 - 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, struck by lightning, c. 1972, during a circus parade in Oquawka, Illinois. She was buried where she died, and a marker now lies on this spot.
- Old Bet, an 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.[2]
P - Z
- Packy (1962— ), resident of Oregon Zoo (formerly Washington Park Zoo) in Portland, Oregon. First Asian elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. Now the patriarch of the zoo's herd and has sired seven offspring (although four have died).
- Raja, elephant who carried the holiest Buddhist shrine in Kandy, Sri Lanka[3]
- 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, (1973–1998), elephant artist, resided at the Phoenix Zoo; at least one painting by her was sold for $100,000
- Salt and Sauce, 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
- Surus, see Hannibal's elephants
- Tarra, first elephant to retire at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee
- Timur, first elephant to be photographed in the wild (May 6, 1896)
- Topsy the Elephant, circus elephant on Coney Island. She was killed by electrocution after killing three people within three years. Thomas Edison suggested the method of execution and filmed the result.
- Tuffi, a young female elephant who fell from Wuppertal's suspended monorail into the river Wupper on July 21, 1950 (and 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 30 minutes. Police fired 86 shots at Tyke, who eventually collapsed from the wounds and died.
- Ziggy, an elephant from Brookfield Zoo
See also
References