David Attenborough investigates the life and death of the world’s most famous elephant - a celebrity animal superstar who inspired the movie Dumbo - with unique access to Jumbo’s skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
David will be working with a team of scientists, conservationists and elephant experts to unravel the complex and dramatic history of what many thought was the largest elephant in the world.
How big was he in reality? What clues can be found in Jumbo’s bones? How did he live and how did he die? And can they explain his terrifying night rages?
Arriving in London Zoo in 1865, Jumbo fast became a firm favourite of Queen Victoria and her children, nicknamed the Children’s Pet. Yet behind the scenes, this gentle giant was living a double life - smashing his den, breaking his tusks and being pacified by large amounts of alcohol. Then, quite suddenly, London Zoo caused public outrage by selling Jumbo to PT Barnum’s circus in America, where he travelled with his keeper to start a new life. But while his time in America would turn him into star with 20 million people coming to see him, his life ended tragically and mysteriously.
As well as Jumbo’s skeleton, David explores the lives of wild elephants to explain Jumbo’s troubled mind, and he discovers how our attitude to captive elephants has changed dramatically in recent years.
Jumbo: The Life Of An Elephant Superstar (w/t), a 1x60’ for BBC One, is made by Humble Bee Films and Infield Fly Productions for BBC and CBC. The Executive Producers are Stephen Dunleavy and Dugald Maudsley, and the BBC Commissioning Editor is Craig Hunter.
