Did anybody here ever see the real Jumbo?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
For reasons I'm not entirely sure of I was just reading about the history of Jumbo the elephant (taxidermy - Elephants - Jumbo theElephant). Apparently his taxidermied body was on display at Tufts University until it was destroyed by a fire in 1975. I'm curious if anybody here ever actually saw him. From the photo it looks like a pretty bad taxidermy job.

The article says that his skeleton was donated to the American Museum of Natural History. Does anybody know if it is still there?
 
when I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought "I don't think anyone here is that old!!"
 
DavidBrown said:
The article says that his skeleton was donated to the American Museum of Natural History. Does anybody know if it is still there?
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According to the book “Jumbo: The Greatest Elephant in the World” (Paul Chambers; 2007) Jumbo’s skeleton was on permanent display at the American Museum of Natural History until 1969.

Since then it has been exhibited only periodically as part of various exhibitions, the last time in 1993; it was then returned to storage in autumn of that year.

Frustratingly none of my visits to New York have ever coincided with a time when Jumbo’s skeleton was on show at the museum which is, incidentally, definitely my favourite of all the natural history museums I’ve seen.
 
Tim May said:
Frustratingly none of my visits to New York have ever coincided with a time when Jumbo’s skeleton was on show at the museum which is, incidentally, definitely my favourite of all the natural history museums I’ve seen.
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Thanks for the information Tim, so it seems like Jumbo's insides are still with us, even if his outside isn't! Maybe the AMNH will put him back on display someday and then whoever of us that can get to New York can claim to see the real Jumbo.

Are there any historical markers about him at the London Zoo?
 
DavidBrown said:
Thanks for the information Tim, so it seems like Jumbo's insides are still with us, even if his outside isn't! Maybe the AMNH will put him back on display someday and then whoever of us that can get to New York can claim to see the real Jumbo.

Are there any historical markers about him at the London Zoo?
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Regrettably, no.

John Edwards' book " London Zoo from old photographs 1852-1914" is recommended reading for anyone interested in Jumbo's career at London.
 
I was fortunate enough to see the real Jumbo's sceleton at the Natural History Museum in 1993. Impressive ! At the time, I thought they didn't do very much to advertise this unique display.
 
IanRRobinson said:
John Edwards' book " London Zoo from old photographs 1852-1914" is recommended reading for anyone interested in Jumbo's career at London.
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I agree with you; this book has a great selection of photographs of Jumbo.

Incidentally, in addition to the book I mentioned in my earlier post:-

• Jumbo: The Greatest Elephant in the World (Paul Chambers; 2007)

I also have the following books about Jumbo:-

• Jumbo (W. P. Jolly; 1976)
• Jumbo (Rhoda Blumberg; 1992) (This a children's book)

There are also various other books about this elephant too; I guess that more books have been written about Jumbo than about any other individual zoo animal.

Saro said:
I was fortunate enough to see the real Jumbo's sceleton at the Natural History Museum in 1993. Impressive ! At the time, I thought they didn't do very much to advertise this unique display.
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I’m very jealous; as I mentioned earlier, his skeleton has never been on display on any of my visits to New York.

Did you take any photographs of this skeleton?
 
Tim May said:
According to the book “Jumbo: The Greatest Elephant in the World” (Paul Chambers; 2007) Jumbo’s skeleton was on permanent display at the American Museum of Natural History until 1969.

Since then it has been exhibited only periodically as part of various exhibitions, the last time in 1993; it was then returned to storage in autumn of that year.

QUOTE]

The Paul Chambers book is well worth obtaining for any zoo enthusiast, and it is a fairly quick and breezy read. Besides discussing Jumbo's life at length there is also a lot of information in regards to Jumbo's long-time trainer Matthew Scott, who was a fascinating individual. Phineas T. Barnum and Abraham Bartlett are a couple of other men who take up supporting roles in the text, and the newspapers of the day definitely played a large role in the exposure given to the world's most famous elephant of all-time.
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In London's Zoo an anthology to celebrate 150 years of the Zoological Society of London compiled by Gwynne Vevers (Bodley Head 1976) There are 6 pages on Jumbo from his arrival at London Zoo to his departure with line drawings including how he had his gums lanced !

Unrestrained, with a spear by the look of the illustration.

the Illustrated London News produced a sketch of Jumbo dated 15th July 1865 see thumbnail
 

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IanRRobinson said:
John Edwards' book " London Zoo from old photographs 1852-1914" is recommended reading for anyone interested in Jumbo's career at London.
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And it is worth adding that, while the original edition (1996) included a superb selection of photographs of ‘Jumbo’, the second edition, published only a few weeks ago, features even more photographs of ‘Jumbo’.
 
I live about 30 minutes away from the Jumbo statue in St Thomas, it was just refurbished about two years ago
 
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