Richard Reynolds #1

Nigel - - - I visited the Field Museum on February 10, 1961 and made copious notes about the mammals. They say - - "2-0 African elephants (loxodonta africana peli). These two huge bulls were collected by Carl Akeley in 1905-06." Now as to whether Chicagoans of 1909 had ever seen an elephant, particularly an African, I offer the following - - * * * * Lincoln Park zoo got its first elephant in 1888. Named Dutch or Dutchess, she died in or just before 1924. She was a female Asian, purchased from the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Though of good size, she was no match for these big bulls. * * * * As best I can tell, Lincoln Park did not get an African elephant until 1960 - -that per Mark Rosenthal's fine Ark in the Park, p.86, a history of Lincoln Park zoo. (The book also gives the info on Duchess). The African may have been a rare Forest elephant because it came from the Gangala na Bodio elephant training center in eastern Belgian Congo. It held both the forest and bush species. I believe that all the animals there were slaughtered during the violent political upheavals beginning in 1960. * * * * Brookfield zoo (and in turn Chicago) got its first African in June 1934, a really small female punk named Honey - - so, no "resident" Chicago African when the fighting bulls went on view in 1909. Here is Honey - -