List of individual elephants

This article is about famous real-life elephants. For famous fictional elephants, see List of fictional pachyderms.
Circus poster of Jumbo, an African bush elephant famed for his exceptional size



Actors

Fame by proxy to owner

Wild elephants

Working elephants

Circus elephants
  • Fanny the elephant, former circus elephant that resided in Slater Park Zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, from 1958 to 1993. 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 at the sanctuary and died in 2003. A statue to her memory stands in Slater Park.
  • Hansken, toured many European countries from 1637 to 1655 demonstrating circus tricks
  • John L. Sullivan (c.1860–April 1932), 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 "oversized"). 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.
  • Lallah Rookh, elephant with Dan Rice's circus. She died of a fever in 1860 after swimming across the Ohio River.
  • Mademoiselle D'Jeck, performed in plays in Europe and the United States in the 19th century
  • 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 was sinful for poor people to waste money on a traveling circus. Old Bet's owner responded by building a three-story memorial called the Elephant Hotel, which now serves as a town hall.[4]
  • Old Hannibal, part of Isaac A. Van Amburgh's menagerie
  • Salt and Sauce, considered the most famous British elephants of their era and mentioned in several circus books
  • Tillie, the mascot of the John Robinson Circus known for wintering and spending her retirement in Terrace Park, Ohio
  • Tusko, billed as the meanest elephant

Carrying elephants

War elephants

Notorious elephants
  • Arikomban, a rogue elephant in Kerala
  • Black Diamond, Indian elephant with Al G. Barnes Circus; killed four people and was subsequently shot in 1929
  • Dhurbe, wild elephant responsible for the deaths of 15 people
  • Kolakolli, Indian rogue elephant from Peppara sanctuary that died in captivity in 2006
  • Mary a.k.a. "Mighty Mary" and "Murderous Mary", 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 12 September 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.
  • Osama bin Laden, rogue elephant which killed at least 27 people in India from 2004 to 2006, and another that was active until killed in 2008
  • Rajje (1951?–1963), performing elephant that escaped into the streets of Lansing, Michigan, and was killed by gunfire.
  • Topsy, (c. 1875 – 4 January 1903). In 1902, while with the Forepaugh Circus, she killed a spectator who burned her trunk with a lit cigar. In 1903 the owners of Coney Island's Luna Park where she ended up claimed they could no longer keep her and killed her via poison, electrocution, and strangling. The Edison Manufacturing movie company shot a film of the execution called Electrocuting an Elephant.
  • Tyke, circus elephant who on 20 August 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.

Temple elephants

Zoo elephants
  • Bamboo, lived at the Woodland Park Zoo for many years and was the center of a campaign to have her moved to a sanctuary
  • Batyr (1970–93), "talking elephant" of Karagandy Zoo in Kazakhstan
  • Castor and Pollux, served as food to the wealthy citizens of Paris during the siege in 1870
  • Chengalloor Dakshayani, an Asian female elephant lived in Chengalloor Mahadeva Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. At the time of her death on 5 February 2019, she was believed to be the oldest elephant in captivity in Asia, at approximately 88 years old.
  • Chunee, elephant in the menagerie at Exeter Exchange; executed by soldiers from Somerset House in March 1826
  • Dhurbe, wild elephant responsible for the deaths of 15 people
  • The Dundee Elephant, exhibited in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries
  • Dunk, the first elephant to reside at the National Zoo in the United States
  • Gabi, a male Asian elephant born in 2005 at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo and the first elephant in Israel conceived via artificial insemination.
  • Gita, death at the Los Angeles Zoo in 2006 sparked public outcry
  • Gold Dust, one of the first elephants to reside at the National Zoo in the United States
  • Hattie of New York City's Central Park Zoo, in 1903 was described as the "most intelligent of all elephants"[6]
  • Kaavan, subject to a lengthy campaign to have him moved to a sanctuary after the death of his companion
  • Kashin, Asian Elephant from New Zealand. She was famous for being sponsored by ASB Bank, and featured in the New Zealand-produced television programme The Zoo.
  • Kosik, able to imitate a number of Korean words
  • Kottur Soman, the oldest living elephant in the world
  • Madhubala, female African elephant at the Karachi Zoo in Pakistan
  • Mali, major attraction at the Manila Zoo in the Philippines
  • Mangalamkunnu Karnan, a famous elephant in Kerala known for his ability to hold the heads-up for a long time
  • Miss Jim, "The First Lady of the St. Louis Zoo" was the zoo's first elephant, and a star attraction from 1916 to 1948.[7]
  • 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.
  • Noor Jehan, female African elephant who lives at the Karachi Zoo in Pakistan
  • Packy (1962–2017), resident of Oregon Zoo (formerly Washington Park Zoo, originally Portland Zoo) in Portland, Oregon. First Asian elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. At his death, he was the patriarch of the zoo's herd and had sired seven offspring (although only one remains alive in 2021, and none have produced any offspring).
  • Queenie (Melbourne elephant) (−1944), gave rides for children at Melbourne Zoo for 40 years
  • Rosie the Elephant, famous for promoting Miami Beach, Florida
  • Ruby (1973–1998), elephant artist, resided at the Phoenix Zoo; at least one painting by her was sold for $100,000
  • Tricia, Asian elephant who resided at Perth Zoo between 1963 until her death at age 65 in 2022. She was one of the world's oldest Asian elephants
  • Ziggy, famously rebellious elephant at Brookfield Zoo

Other
  • Motola, an Asian elephant in Thailand who stepped on a landmine in 1999
  • Motty, only confirmed Asian/African hybrid elephant; survived for just 10 days
  • Queenie (waterskiing elephant) (1952–2011), noted in the late 1950s and early 1960s for waterskiing for entertainment
  • Tuffi, young female elephant who fell from Wuppertal's suspended monorail into the river Wupper on 21 July 1950 (and survived the fall)

See also

References
  1. "The Elephant at the Tower". Medieval manuscripts blog. British Library. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  2. "Echo: An Elephant to Remember". NATURE. Educational Broadcasting Corporation; PBS Online. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  3. "Largest Asian Elephant May Be Dead". Fox News.
  4. Scigliano, Eric. Love, War, and Circuses: the age old relationship between elephants and humans, Houghton Mifflin, 2002, p. 182.
  5. Jayasinghe, Amal. "Wanted:A 'Sathdantha' ("high-caste") elephant". LankaLibrary Sri Lanka.
  6. "Her Cleverness is a Revelation to Trainers: why, she understands English" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 June 1904. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  7. Sowell, Jody (28 June 2010). "First Lady of the Saint Louis Zoo | Missouri Historical Society". Missouri Historical Society.
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