List of individual elephants

This is a list of non-fictional historical elephants by name. For individual elephants from fiction, see: List of fictional pachyderms.

A–F

• Abul-Abbas, Charlemagne's elephant
• Arjuna, lead elephant of the Mysore Dasara procession and carries the idol of the deity Chamundeshwari on the Golden Howdah
• Bimbo, costarred as pet elephant of Corky (Micky Dolenz) in the TV show Circus Boy
• Balarama, preceded Arjuna (see above); Golden Howdah-carrier between 1999 and 2011
• Batyr (1970–93), "talking elephant" of Karagandy Zoo in Kazakhstan
• Black Diamond, Indian elephant with Al G. Barnes Circus; killed four people and was subsequently shot in 1929
• Castor and Pollux, served as food to the wealthy citizens of Paris during the siege in 1870
• Chengallur Ranganathan, from Thrissur was considered the tallest Asian elephant thatever lived, stood at 11 ft 4 inches. He was killed by another elephant, Akavoor Govindan, during Arattupuzha Festival (Arattupuzha Pooram) in 1927. The century-old skeleton of this elephant is exhibited in the Thrissur Museum in the Main Entrance hall.
• Chunee, elephant in the menagerie at Exeter Exchange; executed by soldiers from Somerset House in March 1826
• The Cremona elephant, given to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II by the Sultan of Egypt in 1229
• Drona, preceded Balarama (see above); died from accidentally electrocuting himself in 1998
• Echo, "most studied elephant in the world, the subject of several books and documentaries, including two NATURE films"
• Fanny the elephant, former circus elephant that resided in Slater Park Zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, from 1958 to 1993. She was moved to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary in 1993 because the city closed the zoo exhibits due to financial crises. She lived the last ten years of her life at the sanctuary and died in 2003. A statue to her memory stands in Slater Park.

G–O

• Guruvayur Keshavan, an Indian elephant which was associated with the Guruvayur temple in Kerala, India. The elephant was known for its extremely devout behaviour.
• Hanno the elephant, pet elephant of Pope Leo X
• Hansken, toured many European countries from 1637 to 1655 demonstrating circus tricks
• Hattie of New York City's Central Park Zoo, in 1903 was described as the "most intelligent of all elephants"
• Isilo of Tembe Elephant Park was one of South Africa’s largest African elephants and the largest living tusker in the southern hemisphere before his death in 2014
• John L. Sullivan (1860?–1932), boxing elephant in Adam Forepaugh's circus. In 1922, he made a pilgrimage from Madison Square Garden to the Elephant Hotel in Somers, New York, to pay tribute to Old Bet the elephant.
• Jumbo, P. T. Barnum's elephant whose name is the origin of the word jumbo (meaning "very large" or "oversized"). The African elephant was given the name Jumbo by zookeepers at the London Zoo. The name was most likely derived from the Swahili word jumbe meaning "chief". The Tufts University mascot is named after Jumbo. In Mysore, India Vijayadashami Elephant procession during Dasara is called as Jumbo Savari (referred to as Jumbo Savari by the British during their control of Mysore State). The original name to this procession is Jumbi Savari (going to the Banni(Shami)tree). Now Goddess Chamundeshwari is taken in procession on an Elephant. But the "Jumbo" name is still intact. Jumbo was the name of another elephant, used by John Hoyte et al. to cross the Alps in 1959 to retrace Hannibal's march across the Alps.
• Kandula, the royal war elephant of the Sri Lankan prince Dutugamunu in the 2nd century BC. The king and his elephant grew up together. It fought in King Dutugamunu's campaign against indian King Elara, Especially in The Battle of Vijithapura. A Sri Lankan elephant born November 25, 2001, at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is named after Kandula.
• Kashin, Asian Elephant from New Zealand. She was famous for being sponsored by ASB Bank, and featured in the New Zealand produced television programme The Zoo.
• Kolakolli, Indian rogue elephant from Peppara sanctuary that died in captivity in 2006.
• Lallah Rookh, elephant with Dan Rice's circus. She died in 1860 soon after swimming across the Ohio River.
• Lizzie, who in 1916–1918 worked hauling goods in Sheffield in England.
• Lin Wang, Burmese elephant that served with the Chinese Expeditionary Force during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and later moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang army. Lin Wang became a fond childhood memory among many Taiwanese. When he died at 86 years old in 2003, he was (and still is) the longest-living captive elephant.
• Mara a female Asian elephant born in captivity in the circus who eventually was released from the circus into the Mato Grosso Elephant Sanctuary in Brazil.
• Mary a.k.a. "Mighty Mary" and "Murderous Mary", circus elephant executed on September 13, 1916, in Erwin, Tennessee. She was hanged by a railroad derrick car at the Clinchfield Railroad yard. This is the only known elephant hanging in history. Mary, who toured with the Sparks World Famous Shows circus, killed her inexperienced keeper, Walter "Red" Eldridge, on September 12, 1916, during a circus parade in Kingsport, Tennessee. Eldridge had supposedly hit Mary's tusk or ear when she wandered from the parade line to eat a piece of discarded watermelon.
• Miss Jim, "The First Lady of the St. Louis Zoo" was the zoo's first elephant, and a star attraction from 1916 to 1948.
• Mona, euthanized June 21, 2007 at the Birmingham Zoo in Birmingham, Alabama. Thought, at 60, to have been the oldest Asian elephant in the United States. After the death of her companion, Susie, Mona's health and living conditions were the subject of a long campaign to have her transferred out of the zoo to a sanctuary.
• Motola, an Asian elephant in Thailand who stepped on a landmine in 1999
• Motty, only confirmed Asian/African hybrid elephant; survived for just 10 days
• Old Bet, early American circus elephant owned by Hachaliah Bailey. On July 24, 1816, she was shot and killed while on tour near Alfred, Maine, by a farmer who thought it was sinful for poor people to waste money on a traveling circus. Old Bet's owner responded by building a three-story memorial called the Elephant Hotel, which now serves as a town hall.
• Osama bin Laden, rogue elephant which killed at least 27 people in India from 2004 to 2006, and another that was active until killed in 2008

P–Z

• Packy (1962–2017), resident of Oregon Zoo (formerly Washington Park Zoo, originally Portland Zoo) in Portland, Oregon. First Asian elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. Now the patriarch of the zoo's herd and has sired seven offspring (although four have died).
• Queenie (Melbourne elephant) (−1944), gave rides for children at Melbourne Zoo for 40 years.
• Queenie (waterskiing elephant) (1952–2011), noted in the late 1950s and early 1960s for waterskiing for entertainment.
• Raja, elephant who carried the holiest Buddhist shrine in Kandy, Sri Lanka
• Raja Gaj, bull elephant that lived in the Bardiya National Park, Nepal who was considered to be the world's largest Asian Elephant of modern times
• Rajje (1951?–1963), performing elephant that escaped into the streets of Lansing, Michigan, and was killed by gunfire.
• Rogue elephant of Aberdare Forest, ferocious bull elephant killed by J. A. Hunter in the Aberdare Range, Kenya
• Rosie the Elephant, famous for promoting Miami Beach, Florida
• Ruby (1973–1998), elephant artist, resided at the Phoenix Zoo; at least one painting by her was sold for $100,000
• Salt and Sauce, considered the most famous British elephants of their era and mentioned in several circus books
• Satao, one of Kenya's largest African elephants, had unusually large tusks and was killed by poachers in 2014
• Suleiman the elephant, presented in 1551 to Maximilian II, the Holy Roman Emperor, by John III, the King of Portugal, and named after the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent
• Surus ("the Syrian"), mentioned as the bravest of Hannibal's 37 war elephants which crossed the Alps in 218 BC during the Second Punic War, by Cato the Elder in his book Origines.
• Thiruvambadi Sivasundar, an Indian elephant who lived at the Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna Temple in Thrissur, Kerala
• Tai, known for featuring in the films Larger than Life and Water for Elephants
• Topsy, (c. 1875 – January 4, 1903). In 1902, while with the Forepaugh Circus, she killed a spectator who burned her trunk with a lit cigar. In 1903 the owners of a Coney Island park where she ended up claimed they could no longer keep her and killed her via poison, electrocution, and strangling. The Edison Manufacturing movie company shot a film of the execution called Electrocuting an Elephant.
• Tuffi, young female elephant who fell from Wuppertal's suspended monorail into the river Wupper on July 21, 1950 (and survived the fall)
• Tusko, billed as the meanest elephant
• Tyke, circus elephant who on August 20, 1994, in Honolulu, Hawaii, killed her trainer Allen Campbell and gored her groom Dallas Beckwith, causing severe injuries during a Circus International performance before hundreds of horrified spectators. Tyke then bolted from the arena and ran through downtown streets of Kakaako for more than 30 minutes. Police fired 86 shots at Tyke, who eventually collapsed from the wounds and died.
• Ziggy, famously rebellious elephant at Brookfield Zoo

See also

• List of fictional elephants
• Lists of fictional animals
• Elephant Encyclopedia