Jumbo, The greatest elephant on Earth
By Senior Spin Staff
In the late 19th century, Jumbo was the most famous elephant on Earth. Beloved by the public on two continents, fought over by royalty and a famous circus man, his name lasts to this day whenever we use it to describe something large.
Captured as a baby in Africa, Jumbo was imported to France where he remained for three years in a Paris Zoo along with a female elephant named Alice. In 1865, he and Alice were traded to the Royal Zoological Gardens in London in exchange for a rhinoceros. Undersized and scrawny, Jumbo was nursed to health by his new keeper, Matthew Scott, who would remain with him for the rest of his life. Scott's tonics included copious amounts of whiskey and by the time he reached 7, Jumbo's appetite was certainly healthy: his diet included over 200 pounds of hay and a barrel of potatoes every day.
The British Public adored Jumbo, who eventually grew to the height of 12 feet, and was the largest elephant of his time. Over the 20 years that he lived in London, he carried hundreds of thousands of children on his back, including Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren. Adults, including Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt, also took rides on Jumbo.
Another of the adult riders was Phineas T. Barnum of circus fame. He coveted the elephant and although he made an offer to buy Jumbo, he knew that Jumbo was a favorite of the Queen and the British public, and believed that he had little hope of ever having him for his own.
Eventually, Jumbo began to suffer some personality changes, becoming difficult to manage and attacking his quarters. Perhaps worried about the public safety, Barnum's offer of $10,000 was accepted in 1882 by the Royal Zoological Society.
The British were outraged by the sale of Jumbo. Attempts by the Queen and Parliament to convince Barnum to reconsider the purchase were in vain, and offers of large sums of money were rejected. The controversy made Jumbo even more famous on both sides of the Atlantic.
Now that the long-desired elephant was finally his, Barnum had the formidable task of transporting the 6-ton animal across the Atlantic. When Jumbo was brought to the padded oak container in which he was to shipped to America, he stubbornly lay down and refused to go inside. Finally Barnum convinced Matthew Scott to accompany Jumbo to America. Led by Scott, the elephant quietly entered the crate, which was hauled to the dock and loaded onto a ship for the two-week voyage to America. The shipping price ended up costing $20,000, twice Jumbo's purchase price. On Easter Sunday, 1882, Jumbo landed in New York City, where crowds of people had gathered to welcome him.
The elephant was an instant hit with the American Public. In his first ten days on American soil he earned $30,000. He became a star attraction of the Barnum and Bailey Circus and traveled across the United States and Canada in his own special rail car.
Jumbo died after being struck by an unscheduled freight train in Canada in 1885 while being led along the tracks towards his train car. As he was dying, he reached his trunk out and drew his longtime keeper close to his head for a last embrace.
Despite the myth that Jumbo died in an attempt to save a smaller elephant from the oncoming train, it is likely that his death was simply an accident.
Jumbo's hide was stuffed, a job that involved a taxidermist and six butchers, and his skeleton was reconstructed to form a second "Jumbo". Debris found in the elephant's stomach included keys, English pennies and a Bobby's whistle. Both the stuffed Jumbo and the bones traveled with the circus until the skeleton was donated to a New York City museum and the stuffed hide was given to Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts in 1889.
Jumbo became the Tufts mascot and a favorite with students, who would place a penny in his trunk or pull his tail for good luck before exams. In 1975, a fire destroyed the building in which Jumbo was displayed, reducing the great elephant to ashes.
Jumbo continues to bring luck to Tufts students, however: after the fire, an employee scooped some of his ashes into a peanut butter jar which is now kept in the office of the athletic director. Tufts athletes visit before big games to rub it in hopes that Jumbo will grant them a good outcome.
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Image of Jumbo is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia image "JumboElephant".
