Philadelphia Zoo Bolivar The elephant at Philadelphia Zoo 1888-1908

[Sarus Crane]

I'm finding this discussion very interesting and knew nothing about Bolivar the elephant before Bonnie mentioned him. What makes Bolivar particularly notable? Was he marketed as the successor to Jumbo or as the largest known Asian elephant or some such?

Yeah pretty much. He was the first Asian bull displayed in a US zoo. He was a little shorter than Jumbo but heavier. He was marketed and promoted as the largest Asian bull in the American circus at the time before being gifted to the Philadelphia Zoo in 1888.

 

[AmbikaFan]

Ok, I'm back on my laptop able to access academic journals that would otherwise have a steep paywall via JStor, etc. Probably the most interesting thing I've found is a "context" of popular fascination in people enjoying seeing living elephants, those being allowed to watch and enjoy gruesome elephant deaths, concurrent with those who cry of inhumane treatment--not at the elephant executions but of living elephants' conditions. One of the most illustrative articles features a CPZ elephant keeper describing the situation of bulls in DC, Bronx, and his own facility who had to be chained 24/7 or shot. He described how he tricked his elephant into eating poison as visitors watched. He also describes how it was routine for circuses tire of the unmanageable males and then made great show of donating them to zoos. I see you're aware of Topsy, who came to Coney Island's Luna Park, also as a gift from Forepaugh. I've done quite a bit of research on Luna Park, Dream Land, and Steeplechase Park at this time, which were collectively at the forefront of extravagant spectacle and entertainment known as the birth of entertainment for the middle class. I raise Topsy, because as with the others, there is both the sadistic public reaction of buying tickets to her execution, which after several failed attempts, occurred by electrocution, and the horror vocalized via the SPCA. It's this conflation of opposite opinion surrounding a large number of these unmanageable zoo males. That's the angle of an academic article I'd like to pursue. The problem is, where does such an article fit? Zoology? Popular culture? Ethical culture? Which brings me to Lippmann.

I find the Lippmann article very strange. With its abstract and citations, he wants it to be of academic peer-reviewed quality--except it's not. I can't find his publication Elephant anywhere sorting by peer review. For lack of a venue to publish his theory, I suspect he may have created his own pet journal, "Joe's Blog" in academic apparel with no outside adjudication. For one thing, the photo comparison of an African skull with Bolivar's deformed skull is a mistake no adjudicating board would have allowed, since there are marked differences between the two species normally, so he introduced an extra variable here that fails to even make his argument visually clear. He is an activist starting with a conclusion he's intent on proving, that Bolivar's life in captivity led to a new type of repetitive behavior, gnashing. I'm not convinced that grinding alone has caused his joint damage. First, elephants get six sets of teeth, and he would never have gotten down to the bone itself. He's assuming pressure from the teeth caused these changes in the mandible and condyle. What IS known to create exactly such changes--both the absence of bone where it previously existed AND the generation of new bone in the form of spurs and extra bony mass--is one of Bolivar's very necropsy results, chronic osteoarthritis. And we should not dismiss it simply because it doesn't fit Lippmann's conclusion. We all know elephants living on concrete were/are especially susceptible to chronic arthritis. Once an injury or inability to move occurs, the disease itself can be awakened into an accelerated form that will spread rapidly upward through the legs and spine, and even into the mandible. Our jaws are fitted with a cartilage pad similar to the meniscus in the knee, and when it's eroded by arthritis, a bone on bone situation will exist that has nothing to do with grinding. I myself am an example of this. After a fall to my knees in 2011 that "awakened" arthritis in me at a very young age, within four years my knees were grossly distorted bone on bone and had to be replaced. I have spinal vertebra that look like corkscrew pasta, or tubes with big spurs or cusps that grow into the spinal cord. I had major neck surgery two years ago and a hip replacement this summer. Now, my left jaw is bone on bone, and it has nothing to do with grinding. Lippmann wanted to "prove" an additional repetitive behavior, but we just can't rule out Bolivar's chronic--and probably untreated--arthritis.

I live 90" from Philadelphia and could try to access Temple's photo archive of the zoo. First I'd like to work with my school library to see if they can get me anything through inter-library loan--or better yet have them just post some pictures digitally to make it easier for them and available to you. Meanwhile, I'm still poring through databases to see if I can find anything else on Bolivar. I'll let you know.

Btw, Sarus Crane, Tusko did bear some resemblance to Bolivar's body structure, but go take a look at pictures of Shanthi at NZP and her son Kandula now at OK City. Shanthi, Kandula, and sire Calvin/Chanda are100% Sri Lankan. Calvin's sister Maharani at NZP also resembles Bolivar closely in body type. Those legs that go on forever and that beautiful steel-gray color!

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

I'm finding this discussion very interesting and knew nothing about Bolivar the elephant before Bonnie mentioned him. What makes Bolivar particularly notable? Was he marketed as the successor to Jumbo or as the largest known Asian elephant or some such?

Bolivar was notable because he was genuinely very big and he was part of the large elephant craze that gripped American circuses in the late 1800s. He was often used in comparison to the slightly taller but lighter African elephant Jumbo of Barnum's circus, but Bolivar outlived Jumbo (who somehow (considering his value to the circus) managed to be hit by a train in 1885). For me Bolivar is interesting because although he was a celebrity in his day, his legacy has been somewhat lost, his only real footnote was as 'Philadelphia's unfriendliest resident' on the Academy website and I just thought that considering Bolivar probably saw his mother killed, travelled continuously through his early life, was made to perform, beaten until he submitted, fed inappropriate foods, lived in damp conditions, had to live amongst tigers and other predators, moved around between circuses and probably never had the chance to make familial bonds with other elephants....he was remarkable well behaved!!!! Some of the stories of these animals lives are the most depressing things to read, so my exhibition is trying to create a more positive look and show my admiration for what Bolivar endured. He's probably no more or less special than all the other animals in zoos and circuses but his celebrity meant that I was able to research much of his life and his experience probably mirrors that of other circus and zoo animals of the time. I guess he's just one of those animals that gets under your skin - I want to do Ironsides and more on Jackson the rhino (who's history I collated at Bristol) after this so I defo have a 'thing' for animal histories!

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

Ok, I'm back on my laptop able to access academic journals that would otherwise have a steep paywall via JStor, etc. Probably the most interesting thing I've found is a "context" of popular fascination in people enjoying seeing living elephants, those being allowed to watch and enjoy gruesome elephant deaths, concurrent with those who cry of inhumane treatment--not at the elephant executions but of living elephants' conditions. One of the most illustrative articles features a CPZ elephant keeper describing the situation of bulls in DC, Bronx, and his own facility who had to be chained 24/7 or shot. He described how he tricked his elephant into eating poison as visitors watched. He also describes how it was routine for circuses tire of the unmanageable males and then made great show of donating them to zoos. I see you're aware of Topsy, who came to Coney Island's Luna Park, also as a gift from Forepaugh. I've done quite a bit of research on Luna Park, Dream Land, and Steeplechase Park at this time, which were collectively at the forefront of extravagant spectacle and entertainment known as the birth of entertainment for the middle class. I raise Topsy, because as with the others, there is both the sadistic public reaction of buying tickets to her execution, which after several failed attempts, occurred by electrocution, and the horror vocalized via the SPCA. It's this conflation of opposite opinion surrounding a large number of these unmanageable zoo males. That's the angle of an academic article I'd like to pursue. The problem is, where does such an article fit? Zoology? Popular culture? Ethical culture? Which brings me to Lippmann.

I find the Lippmann article very strange. With its abstract and citations, he wants it to be of academic peer-reviewed quality--except it's not. I can't find his publication Elephant anywhere sorting by peer review. For lack of a venue to publish his theory, I suspect he may have created his own pet journal, "Joe's Blog" in academic apparel with no outside adjudication. He's an activist starting with a conclusion he's intent on proving, that Bolivar's life in captivity led to a new type of repetitive behavior, gnashing. I'm not convinced that grinding alone has caused his joint damage. First, elephants get six sets of teeth, and he would never have gotten down to the bone itself. He's assuming pressure from the teeth caused these changes in the mandible and condyle. What IS known to create exactly such changes--both the absence of bone where it previously existed AND the generation of new bone in the form of spurs and extra bony mass--is one of Bolivar's very necropsy results, chronic osteoarthritis. And we should not dismiss it simply because it doesn't fit his conclusion. We all know elephants living on concrete were/are especially susceptible to chronic arthritis. Once an injury or inability to move occurs, the disease itself can be awakened into an accelerated form that will spread rapidly upward through the legs and spine, and even into the mandible. Our jaws are fitted with a cartilage pad similar to the meniscus in the knee, and when it's eroded by arthritis, a bone on bone situation will exist that has nothing to do with grinding. I myself am an example of this. After a fall to my knees in 2011 that "awakened" arthritis in me at a very young age, within four years my knees were grossly distorted bone on bone and had to be replaced. I have spinal vertebra that look like corkscrew pasta, or tubes with big spurs or cusps that grow into the spinal cord. I had major neck surgery two years ago and a hip replacement this summer. Now, my left jaw is bone on bone, and it has nothing to do with grinding. Lippmann wanted to "prove" an additional repetitive behavior, but we just can't rule out Bolivar's chronic--and probably untreated--arthritis.

I live 90" from Philadelphia and could try to access Temple's photo archive of the zoo. First I'd like to work with my school library to see if they can get me anything through inter-library loan--or better yet have them just post some pictures digitally to make it easier for them and available to you. Meanwhile, I'm still poring through databases to see if I can find anything else on Bolivar. I'll let you know.

Btw, Sarus Crane, Tusko did bear some resemblance to Bolivar's body structure, go take a look at pictures of Shanthi at NZP and her son Kandula now at OK City. Shanthi, Kandula, and sire Calvina/Chanda are100% Sri Lankan. Calvin's sister Maharani at NZP also resembles him closely in body type. Those legs that go on forever and that beautiful steel-gray color!

Thanks for this detailed reply! Thats fascinating about the osteoarthritis - I am so sorry you had this happen to you, it sounds terribly painful - I hope you're able to manage it! And I really appreciate your view on the article - I am always hesitant to criticize as despite a long career in Nat Hist, I still never feel like an expert but somethings did not sit right with me at all!

I've contacted the stud book keeper Bob Lee at Oregon to see if I can 100% confirm Bolivars Ceylon origins and there's a guy on twitter, Advait M Jukar PhD who has also been looking at bolivars skull for other reasons but said he'd have a second look at the condyles to see what he thinks.

Cant believe how amazing this thread is - more than I could have every dreamed of! <3

 

[Sarus Crane]

For anyone interested in Jackson the rhino, he was a Northern Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis) who lived at ZSL London Zoo. Here's a photo of him from the galleries:

Who's Ironsides? This is great stuff!

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

Bonnie,

Bolivar is like a lot of other individual elephants within the circus that were often touted as the largest, meanest, and rarest elephants in captivity. This is a factor of the classic “Barnum style” marketing strategy. It worked in most cases like and many circus acts were advertised in this fashion. It is most likely that Bolivar was named after Simón Bolívar the Venezuelan military leader from the early 1800’s. Other famous big elephant were named like this as well like you stated. Also, a “mad, dangerous” elephant is more likely to get more attention than a placid one. The cigar incident you mention is the one that I’ve found as well. Other account details him venting his frustration from musth on a person and a horse (killed both) and derailing a circus train car from the track! When he was at the zoo, he even rammed down a brick wall in the elephant house according to the Philadelphia Inquirer in July 1902.

View attachment 406567

Your exhibit:
I think it’s great that you are sharing Bolivar with a larger audience through an exhibit. I like your rendition of circus poster style artwork for the exhibit. Good job! As for the controversial photo, it’s all about context. Chances are if you state on a label on how elephant husbandry and management has drastically changed for the better within the last half century and how dangerous musth is for both the keeper and elephant, people I feel, are more likely to be sympathetic to how elephants were managed back in the early days. Having worked in a museum myself I personally know how frustrating it can be to reach people and given timelines, projects between various departments can be delayed weeks, even months at a time!

I’d like to see the exhibit but due to me being at the other end of the USA, being out of work (looking for a new museum job, preferably natural history), and cost of travel I unfortunately won’t be able to make it. However, you could download the Google Street View app for your phone, create 360 photo spheres (it uses your phone’s camera and meshes the images together into a 360) of views within the gallery of the exhibit and upload them to Google Maps. I did this for the temporary exhibits that were held at the museum I last worked at and the staff really thought it was a great initiative and plan on continuing it since they can still view the old exhibits that have moved on to other museums. I think a lot of members on here besides AmbikaFan and I would like to see it too.

Recreations:
I’m glad both you and @AmbikaFan like the recreations. I’ve been using Photoshop for a decade now, enjoy making recreations and as for the ones that I posted earlier, I took the Asian Elephant illustrations by Toni Llobet from the HMW elephant plate, did some “digital taxidermy” with the puppet warp tool and recreated the base by creating different layers, adding textures and merging them together. For example, once you make one post you can make duplicates! As for the skeleton I did the same thing. I took an illustration of an elephant skeleton manipulated it to look just like Bolivar’s. The glory of Photoshop! I did it under the “fair use principle”. If you want a photo real recreation, I can work on that as well. From my personal observations I’ve always thought that Bolivar looked a great deal like Tusko, the Asian bull from Thailand that was at the Oregon Zoo from 2005 till his death in 2015. He had a similarly shaped body, a large head and was 10 feet as well. In addition one of my future projects is to recreate Bolivar’s living quarters at the Philly Zoo in ZT2 so I guess I better get started on that as well.

Philly connection:
As far as being connected with someone in Philly, in summer 2017 I had a temporary job in the Philadelphia area. Since I knew that Bolivar’s remains were at the Academy, I made an appointment to see them before I finished up there (not sure if I can post photos to Zoochat of his remains/only got clearance to be in the documentary). He does indeed like AbikaFan said has tushes. I also was hoping to obtain high resolution still images for my short documentary then, but at the time the archives were being closed for renovations. Overall, the ANSP is a great mid-sized natural history museum dating back to the beginning of the 19th Century. If you’re in Philly for a trip to see Bolivar’s bones, set aside some time to see the dioramas. They just renovated the gorilla and takin diorama last year and I presume they’ll do the others in due time when they have more funding. The Giant Sable is my favorite! The 3rd floor also has some great dioramas on extinct North American birds including a massive Passenger Pigeon diorama. The Academy can be seen in a day. I’ve posted photos of the dioramas and exhibits in the gallery here on the site.

Thoughts on the Lippman paper:
I remember reading that paper about a year ago and was surprised that he had that condition as it was not brought up by any other resource I’ve read on him from the time and wasn't aware of it when I saw his cranium and mandible at ANSP behind the scenes. Otherwise I would've looked at the condyles closer in person. I myself have some mild TMJ issues as well so I can totally understand what Bolivar was going through! I agree with AmbikaFan that the old Philly Zoo 1940’s Paul Cret elephant house wasn’t the best facility. I strongly feel that it should’ve been modified for just the Indian Rhinos instead of just a Children’s Zoo and the other yards could have been joined together and made a top-notch exhibit for them.

In terms of social media, I’m not on Twitter. Sorry. Having a YouTube and Zoochat with other commitments going on such as looking for a new job is a lot to keep track of. Thanks for your fast response and let me know what type of recreation you’d like me to create! Long live the memory of Bolivar!

Amazing Sarus! I'm having trouble tracking you down from your avatar on your tube although im getting lots of nice crane videos instead! If you want to email me on my embarrassingly old personal email its booweasel@gmail.com - i would love to share the work and will of course credit you for the images and sources that I didn't have already.

One note I have is that that incident of Bolivar killing a man and a horse in 1850 is a perhaps a different Bolivar who I call 'Langworthy's Bolivar' after his keeper, he's often associated with stories of the dog 'Turk'. He was also with Van Amburghs show - I can track him from 1839 - 1879, (so earlier than Forepaugh's Bolivar's apparent arrival) with one article describing the tricks he could do including carrying the performer on his tusks and another article stating his tusks were seven feet in length so this can't be Forepaugh's Bolivar - although there may have been another incident when Forepaugh's Bolivar also killed a horse and man! I have other stories of rage that I can attribute to Forepaugh's Bolivar but the list is huge so I won't share it here.
Ive seen that wonderful image of the wall being smashed down by him - how amazing - also interesting that they chose to get an illustrator to portray him, I wonder if that's due to his head ulcer or not.
Also - LOVE the idea of the google maps gallery!!! Thats a brilliant tip! You and AmbikaFan are amazing - that's so much guys - i'm really enjoying having a virtual gang who also love Bolivar!

 

[Tim May]

For anyone interested in Jackson the rhino, he was a Northern Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis) who lived at ZSL London Zoo.

"Jackson" arrived at London Zoo on 27th April 1886 where he died on 22nd November 1910 (and prior to London Zoo he was housed in Calcutta Zoo from 1884 till 1886).
He can be seen mounted in the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

For anyone interested in Jackson the rhino, he was a Northern Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis) who lived at ZSL London Zoo. Here's a photo of him from the galleries:

Who's Ironsides? This is great stuff!

Ironsides was in next door to Bolivar during his time at Philadelphia and there's some funny stories of the 'Great Peanut War' which played on the trope that rhinos and elephants are sworn enemies.

Jackson was in my care at Bristol Museum and is still on display, my research was used for this blog post and i'm obsessed with the image of the bombed out museum with his silhouette. He also features on a postage stamp! hs capture notes are heartbreaking - we gathered a lot of information for a future new display for him because he's so special and at risk, but sadly the money couldn't be found.
Jackson the Rhinoceros

 

[AmbikaFan]

That's what a forum like this is all about, collective knowledge, processes, and viewpoints. I LOVE that we all see this story in different media, with different contexts. Sarus, your documentary sounds as if it could be very fulfilling already. Any/all of these andcdotal stories can be read aloud as you pan over pictures of drawings. The bemused tone of the demolished-wall article is enjoyable and provides great granular detail to make the viewer feel he is there. Even the CPZ keeper who mentions how common these massive bulls are for zoos and then describes his gleeful victory killing his Zoo's male is a very colorful figure but at the same time describes well just what the Bolivar's were up.against.

Bonnie, I didn't know Bob Lee had been named the next studbook keeper, since Oregon served for four years right before St. Louis. The stud book is no longer publicly available, presumably so activists can't use it against the population living in human care. But I know Bob Lee somewhat and could write to him. Whether he's the new studbook manager or not, he'll have access to the document. The biggest question for me is WHEN he came to this country and at what age,. We'll certainly get the date of arrival and between the circuses if he was at another before Forepaugh, who originally brought him, and confirmation of Sri Lanka.

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

That's what a forum like this is all about, collective knowledge, processes, and viewpoints. I LOVE that we all see this story in different media, with different contexts. Sarus, your documentary sounds as if it could be very fulfilling already. Any/all of these andcdotal stories can be read aloud as you pan over pictures of drawings. The bemused tone of the demolished-wall article is enjoyable and provides great granular detail to make the viewer feel he is there. Even the CPZ keeper who mentions how common these massive bulls are for zoos and then describes his gleeful victory killing his Zoo's male is a very colorful figure but at the same time describes well just what the Bolivar's were up.against.

Bonnie, I didn't know Bob Lee had been named the next studbook keeper, since Oregon served for four years right before St. Louis. The stud book is no longer publicly available, presumably so activists can't use it against the population living in human care. But I know Bob Lee somewhat and could write to him. Whether he's the new studbook manager or not, he'll have access to the document. The biggest question for me is WHEN he came to this country and at what age,. We'll certainly get the date of arrival and between the circuses if he was at another before Forepaugh, who originally brought him, and confirmation of Sri Lanka.

Yes all I can do is infer at this point as I have two conflicting claims on Bolivar's arrival and only that he was a 'young' elephant. Reports for the Reiche Bros indicate they would want to take a baby elephant at between 1 year and 5 years for the most manageable animal but that would be inferred data on Bolivar. I can find only one account of an elephant turning up on a ship in the 1860s but it was a female so the mystery endures!

 

[Sarus Crane]

That's what a forum like this is all about, collective knowledge, processes, and viewpoints. I LOVE that we all see this story in different media, with different contexts. Sarus, your documentary sounds as if it could be very fulfilling already. Any/all of these andcdotal stories can be read aloud as you pan over pictures of drawings. The bemused tone of the demolished-wall article is enjoyable and provides great granular detail to make the viewer feel he is there. Even the CPZ keeper who mentions how common these massive bulls are for zoos and then describes his gleeful victory killing his Zoo's male is a very colorful figure but at the same time describes well just what the Bolivar's were up.against.

Bonnie, I didn't know Bob Lee had been named the next studbook keeper, since Oregon served for four years right before St. Louis. The stud book is no longer publicly available, presumably so activists can't use it against the population living in human care. But I know Bob Lee somewhat and could write to him. Whether he's the new studbook manager or not, he'll have access to the document. The biggest question for me is WHEN he came to this country and at what age,. We'll certainly get the date of arrival and between the circuses if he was at another before Forepaugh, who originally brought him, and confirmation of Sri Lanka.

AmbikaFan, although I've never met him in person I do know of Bob Lee at the Oregon Zoo. He is often featured in the Oregon Zoo's YouTube videos as a spokesman for the elephant herd and knows a lot about the history of the herd in Portland. If you have the chance, could you ask him the size (height and weight) of Thonglaw (Packy's father)? Its hard to find biometrics on him. I know Packy was 10'6" and 12,000 lbs. Tusko was 10' and about 13,000 lbs. Rama was shorter than either and the cows, Shine, Rose-Tu and Chendra (the Borneo elephant) are significantly smaller. Mike Keele, a former elephant keeper at the zoo (now retired) may still be in touch with Bob Lee and could give you historical insight as well. He worked with the original herd at the zoo and was 9 when Packy was born.

Anyways back to Bolivar. Bonnie, I'm glad you like my idea of Google 360's. I find it a great way of preserving traveling exhibits. @AmbikaFan I'm assuming the CPZ keeper you're referring to is George "Slim" Lewis who was Tusko's (another famous Oregon elephant from the 1930's) keeper and was nearly killed by Ziggy, Brookfield Zoo's Asian tusker. He wrote a book called "I Loved Rogues" that I have yet to read. It'd be great to get advice from Dr. Jukar as well on Bolivar's condyles. Thank for giving me your email. From my research I found a trove of articles that I'm sending you via a Google Drive link. I found one that says he was bought at 10 years old from Sri Lanka but we'll need Bob Lee's certification for sure from the studbook. Do you know what type of recreation you'd like me to create for your exhibit?

As for my documentary, I tried to get a hold of Tulsa Zoo to film their bull Sneezy who is also very large and a makhna like Bolivar to demonstrate how bull elephants are manged in the 21st Century versus a century ago but the zoo denied my request, which in my opinion is rather rude considering they let Joel Sartore photo animals behind the scenes for Nat Geo's Photo Ark. I know how I want to make the documentary, I'm just waiting on gathering more materials before I actually start putting it together in Adobe Premiere.

The reason I asked about Ironsides is because the only Philly Zoo rhino I know of was Pete, a male Indian and he's in the Academy's collections as well. Next time I go on a vacation in the UK, I 'll definitely have to make time to see Jackson at the museum! Female elephants Jennie & Empress also lived at the zoo when Bolivar was there. Also Bonnie, since you're originally from Bristol in the UK, you probably visited Bristol Zoo and my latest video was an attempt to recreate the Bristol Zoo's old elephant exhibit which formerly held Wendy for World Elephant Day.

 

[AmbikaFan]

Yes all I can do is infer at this point as I have two conflicting claims on Bolivar's arrival and only that he was a 'young' elephant. Reports for the Reiche Bros indicate they would want to take a baby elephant at between 1 year and 5 years for the most manageable animal but that would be inferred data on Bolivar. I can find only one account of an elephant turning up on a ship in the 1860s but it was a female so the mystery endures!

I saw all those shipping reports too! They were such dense reading that I moved on. But if you've conclusively ruled out an elephant arrival for the whole 1860s, that points to the Rauche purchase. But if they only bought calves, Bolivar would have been a decade younger than his estimated age at death. What ports did you check for?

 

[AmbikaFan]

Oh, I want to live in your world lol! Your areas of elephant history go back into topics I love! Could you send me your trove too, just to explore? Lol. I promise not to use it for anything but my own curiosity.

First, I've already written to Bob Lee and don't want to ask more of him right now. Differentiating between all the Bolivars and working around missing information (fields marked with ???? If you've ever seen the studbook) could make finding the fellow we need in the studbook a more tedious and time-consuming task than I'd like to be asking of him now. He has the joy of Chendra's pregnancy, but I'm sure he is still very shaken by the death of calf Lily to EEHV, especially losing Rama, Packy, and Tusko all in the previous four years. I believe the information you seek could be in Mathew Maberry's book, Packy and Me. It features famed importer and elephant collector Morgan Berry and his elephants, one of which was Thonglaw. I also found a lot of great info on carny sites about Berry's impressive all-male act, including Thonglaw, Houston's Thailand, and SD's late Ranchipur. I forget who the fourth was. Ironically, Berry who let his elephants roam freely on his WA property, was ultimately killed by one.

Packy was actually measured at 12' at the domes, so he was very tall, allegedly, although not the heaviest, the tallest elephant in North American History. Shine is not as tall as a female, but she's a beautifully built and tall elephant nevertheless without that skinny look that Rose-Tu has and Bolivar has in the preservation pictures. I have to check the name of the CPZ keeper; I just downloaded it when I was poking around in the NY Times archive but didn't recognize it.

I've always wanted to go see Sneezy and wished his wild-born genes were more represented in our population. Missed opportunity if you ask me. In any case, I was taken aback to hear that he's a makhna. He was imported with six other elephants who were all given the names of the Seven Dwarfs. Happy is still at the Bronx, although her companion, Grumpy, died 20 years ago. Two have died, and last I looked at a studbook, probably 2016, two in private hands were alive. These 7 all had the same country of origin in the studbook and came together as babies--and I am 99% certain that that country of origin was not Sri Lanka. The main group of Sri Lankan elephants all came from the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage in 1976, most of whom are now, by coincidence or not, at NZP. Shanthi was a gift from Sri Lanka to the children of the US right after DC's young female Shanti died suddenly; Kamala, Swarna, and male Bandara went to Calgary; Bozie travelled around and came to NZP in 2013 after losing her herdmate in LA; and Skanik (Lucy) in Edmonton rounded out the group. While Bozie had daughter Shanti who has had breeding success in Houston, her progeny are not pure Sri Lankan, while Kamala and Bandara's children Chanda/Calvin in Europe and Maharani at NZP, and Shanthi's son with Calvin Kandula in OKC are pure examples of the subspecies. Calvin was not very tall, although it was hard to tell because a childhood foot injury crippled him for life. Maharani and Shanthi, though, are exactly the tall, long-legged body type of Bolivar despite being female. Kandula is only 17 but in time could give you perhaps the clearest idea of what Bolivar looked like. For now, though, I'd say Shanthi and Maharani would more than serve your purpose!

Are you on the East Coast? I'm planning a drive down before school starts.

 

[AmbikaFan]

The CZP keeper was William Snyder who had been senior keeper for 27 years in 1914.

I'm sorry you'll hit a paywall with this. It was the only way to get a link:

60 YEARS OF CHAINS STILL BEFORE GUNDA; The Big Elephant Can Look Forward to a Long Life with a Brick Wall Prospect.

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

AmbikaFan, although I've never met him in person I do know of Bob Lee at the Oregon Zoo. He is often featured in the Oregon Zoo's YouTube videos as a spokesman for the elephant herd and knows a lot about the history of the herd in Portland. If you have the chance, could you ask him the size (height and weight) of Thonglaw (Packy's father)? Its hard to find biometrics on him. I know Packy was 10'6" and 12,000 lbs. Tusko was 10' and about 13,000 lbs. Rama was shorter than either and the cows, Shine, Rose-Tu and Chendra (the Borneo elephant) are significantly smaller. Mike Keele, a former elephant keeper at the zoo (now retired) may still be in touch with Bob Lee and could give you historical insight as well. He worked with the original herd at the zoo and was 9 when Packy was born.

Anyways back to Bolivar. Bonnie, I'm glad you like my idea of Google 360's. I find it a great way of preserving traveling exhibits. @AmbikaFan I'm assuming the CPZ keeper you're referring to is George "Slim" Lewis who was Tusko's (another famous Oregon elephant from the 1930's) keeper and was nearly killed by Ziggy, Brookfield Zoo's Asian tusker. He wrote a book called "I Loved Rogues" that I have yet to read. It'd be great to get advice from Dr. Jukar as well on Bolivar's condyles. Thank for giving me your email. From my research I found a trove of articles that I'm sending you via a Google Drive link. I found one that says he was bought at 10 years old from Sri Lanka but we'll need Bob Lee's certification for sure from the studbook. Do you know what type of recreation you'd like me to create for your exhibit?

As for my documentary, I tried to get a hold of Tulsa Zoo to film their bull Sneezy who is also very large and a makhna like Bolivar to demonstrate how bull elephants are manged in the 21st Century versus a century ago but the zoo denied my request, which in my opinion is rather rude considering they let Joel Sartore photo animals behind the scenes for Nat Geo's Photo Ark. I know how I want to make the documentary, I'm just waiting on gathering more materials before I actually start putting it together in Adobe Premiere.

The reason I asked about Ironsides is because the only Philly Zoo rhino I know of was Pete, a male Indian and he's in the Academy's collections as well. Next time I go on a vacation in the UK, I 'll definitely have to make time to see Jackson at the museum! Female elephants Jennie & Empress also lived at the zoo when Bolivar was there. Also Bonnie, since you're originally from Bristol in the UK, you probably visited Bristol Zoo and my latest video was an attempt to recreate the Bristol Zoo's old elephant exhibit which formerly held Wendy for World Elephant Day.

Ah yes Wendy! What a legend! They have a huge amount of work on the archives at Bristol - most of it done by Andy Flack - he did his PhD on the animal history of Bristol zoo and is a lovely chap!

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

I saw all those shipping reports too! They were such dense reading that I moved on. But if you've conclusively ruled out an elephant arrival for the whole 1860s, that points to the Rauche purchase. But if they only bought calves, Bolivar would have been a decade younger than his estimated age at death. What ports did you check for?

I just searched the newspapers for this info and looked at those coming in on the east coast. It could be that an arrival of an unremarkable elephant wasn’t recorded in the press!

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

Oh, I want to live in your world lol! Your areas of elephant history go back into topics I love! Could you send me your trove too, just to explore? Lol. I promise not to use it for anything but my own curiosity.

First, I've already written to Bob Lee and don't want to ask more of him right now. Differentiating between all the Bolivars and working around missing information (fields marked with ???? If you've ever seen the studbook) could make finding the fellow we need in the studbook a more tedious and time-consuming task than I'd like to be asking of him now. He has the joy of Chendra's pregnancy, but I'm sure he is still very shaken by the death of calf Lily to EEHV, especially losing Rama, Packy, and Tusko all in the previous four years. I believe the information you seek could be in Mathew Maberry's book, Packy and Me. It features famed importer and elephant collector Morgan Berry and his elephants, one of which was Thonglaw. I also found a lot of great info on carny sites about Berry's impressive all-male act, including Thonglaw, Houston's Thailand, and SD's late Ranchipur. I forget who the fourth was. Ironically, Berry who let his elephants roam freely on his WA property, was ultimately killed by one.

Packy was actually measured at 12' at the domes, so he was very tall, allegedly, although not the heaviest, the tallest elephant in North American History. Shine is not as tall as a female, but she's a beautifully built and tall elephant nevertheless without that skinny look that Rose-Tu has and Bolivar has in the preservation pictures. I have to check the name of the CPZ keeper; I just downloaded it when I was poking around in the NY Times archive but didn't recognize it.

I've always wanted to go see Sneezy and wished his wild-born genes were more represented in our population. Missed opportunity if you ask me. In any case, I was taken aback to hear that he's a makhna. He was imported with six other elephants who were all given the names of the Seven Dwarfs. Happy is still at the Bronx, although her companion, Grumpy, died 20 years ago. Two have died, and last I looked at a studbook, probably 2016, two in private hands were alive. These 7 all had the same country of origin in the studbook and came together as babies--and I am 99% certain that that country of origin was not Sri Lanka. The main group of Sri Lankan elephants all came from the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage in 1976, most of whom are now, by coincidence or not, at NZP. Shanthi was a gift from Sri Lanka to the children of the US right after DC's young female Shanti died suddenly; Kamala, Swarna, and male Bandara went to Calgary; Bozie travelled around and came to NZP in 2013 after losing her herdmate in LA; and Skanik (Lucy) in Edmonton rounded out the group. While Bozie had daughter Shanti who has had breeding success in Houston, her progeny are not pure Sri Lankan, while Kamala and Bandara's children Chanda/Calvin in Europe and Maharani at NZP, and Shanthi's son with Calvin Kandula in OKC are pure examples of the subspecies. Calvin was not very tall, although it was hard to tell because a childhood foot injury crippled him for life. Maharani and Shanthi, though, are exactly the tall, long-legged body type of Bolivar despite being female. Kandula is only 17 but in time could give you perhaps the clearest idea of what Bolivar looked like. For now, though, I'd say Shanthi and Maharani would more than serve your purpose!

Are you on the East Coast? I'm planning a drive down before school starts.

Wow! We’ve got more elephants than we know what to do with lol! I’m on the west coast sadly!

 

[AmbikaFan]

Except he's pretty remarkable! Waiting on replies to a number of inquiries I've sent out. I'll let you know!

 

[Bonnie Griffin]

Except he's pretty remarkable! Waiting on replies to a number of inquiries I've sent out. I'll let you know!

Thank Annika, yes he certainly did grow into a remarkable elephant! Be interested to know what turns up. I’ll let you know if I get any more replies!

 

[AmbikaFan]

Wow! We’ve got more elephants than we know what to do with lol! I’m on the west coast sadly!

Fortunately for us history geeks, there are many to study, but unfortunately, there are currently too few--with median age skewed around 40--to with certainty sustain a breeding population, or assurance colony, in human care....

Well, I'll try to get you new pics of Shanthi or Maharani. The new habitat doesn't make getting unobstructed close pictures easy. But at least you're on the right coast for Bonnie's exhibition!