Monday, March 20, 2006

From Richard Reynolds


I received this picture from Richard Reynolds showing Howard Y. Bary in 1947 with the same elephant I showed last Saturday.
As an agent of the Ringling Show in the 1930's Mr. Bary toured remote areas of the world bringing back several unique features. The one that I took most interest in were the three "Pygmy African elephants" imported in 1936.

To the uninformed, the final year the Ringling owned Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus went out was 1935. The show sat idle all of 1936 in the Peru, Ind. quartrers but was revived in 1937-38 on a lease basis. Thru a complicated set of circumstances Howard Y. Bary gained control of the show which made it thru 1937 but closed forever in 1838 at Riverside, Ca. and went into storage at the Al G. Barnes quarters. Included were the 23 Ringling owned elephants.

Posted by Buckles at 3/20/2006 05:57:00 AM

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks to me like it was very hard to get enough to eat with these tusks. I would elevate the food dish for him so his trunk could reach the food.

20 March, 2006 09:20
Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds adds - -

While this bull had the “straight down” tusks typical of Congo forest elephants, the left ear is not so round as is typical of that species [Taxonomists now say it is a different species instead of being merely a rain forest subspecies of the African bush elephants.] This ear looks more like that of a bush elephant.

I believe this must have been the same bull that RBBB wanted McCormick Steele to land when it sent him to Africa in late 1954. As you see he was tame (after a fashion) and could conceivably have been hauled around by a circus though he probably would not have fit into one of the elephant cars. I wouldn’t want to underwrite liability insurance where he was concerned. However, Steele learned that a huge one of some 11 feet (probably this animal) had recently been shot for killing its mahout.

21 March, 2006 14:41
Anonymous said...

Why are elephants killed for killing their Mahouts. I have heard of several elephants killing people and they are not put down. Some have killed more then once. Eloise was killed by her elephant and he was shot dead. I know this is not what Eloise would have wanted. Do you think Berry was so upset he had him killed over Eloise? I have always wondered about this as the elephant was prime breeding stock. A beautiful Africian.

21 March, 2006 16:56
Buckles said...

This elephant under discussion looks younger and more fit in Mr. Reynolds picture of 1947.
In my later picture he looks dreadful, you could hang your hat on his hip bones. It may be due to advanced age or parasites, probably both. Life in the jungle is not what we are led to believe.
I well remember talk of John Ringling North bringing over the largest African elephant known to man in 1954.
I wasn't aware he had been shot.

21 March, 2006 17:23
Anonymous said...

Did this elephant have a nick name?
Also what became of its skeleton and hide after it died?
if I had to guess,it probably went to a museum in France or the Congo museum in Belgium?

25 March, 2006 17:45
Anonymous said...

Also I would imagine it probably would not be practical to all the sudden sent a fully grown male elephant who probably never been out of the Congo on a ocean voyage to America.
The famous African elephant"Jingo',
which Frank Bostock purchased from the London zoo around the turn of the 20th Century for his traveling show in America.
The elephant became sea sick and despondent and died during the voyage and they had to dump his carcass over board.

25 March, 2006 17:49
Buckles said...

I never heard a name for this elephant, in fact I never even knew he existed until I came across this old photo.
Richard Reynolds might know more about his final disposition.

25 March, 2006 19:03

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