The sublime nobility of the circus elephant
Take a look back at the gentle giants who have spent more than a century under the big top
1900: Jumbo the Elephant steps into a large cargo container ahead of a journey to a circus performance.
(Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS)
1934: Baby elephants arrive at the London Docks from Burma. They would be taken to Olympia to appear in a Christmas circus.
(Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS) For more than a century, Jumbo and his fellow circus elephants dazzled crowds with their performances, dancing around the ring in rows, lifting showgirls hi
1949: An elephant does a handstand during a Ringling Bros. performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
(AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman)
2005: An elephant performs in the Bouglione Circus in Paris.
(Owen Franken/Corbis) There was a darker side to the family-friendly shows, too. Animal rights groups have for years voiced concerns and mounted evidence that elephants from various
1963: A Ringling Bros. elephant steps out of a train car as young children look on, at the Bronx railroad yard in New York City.
(AP Photo)
2015: Angelica the elephant peeks from beneath her eyelashes at the Ringling Bros.' Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk City, Florida.
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
2006: An elephant's trunk snakes around the side of a train car, as Ringling Bros. trainers prepare to walk the performers into waiting trucks.
(AP Photo/Virginian-Pilot, L Todd Spencer) Of course, there are plenty of other circuses, both in America and beyond (Russia, France, and Thailand, to name just a few countries), where elepha
2012: An elephant steps carefully between three women during an act of the Circus Charles Knie in Germany.
(Angelika Warmuth/dpa/Corbis)
1971: Myrtle the elephant takes a breath of fresh air as her trailer zooms down the highway toward the Hoxie Brothers Circus' next performance.
(Jonathan Blair/Corbis)
2015: A circus performer poses between two elephants during the opening ceremony of the 39th International Circus Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
(Gaetan Luci/ Palais Princier/ Pool Cardinale/ Corbis/People)For Ringling Bros. elephants, at least, its time for a much-deserved retirement. The lumbering creatures will, over the next three
1995: Elephants wander in their enclosure at the Center for Elephant Conservation.
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
2011: April plays with a circus ball at the center, as her mother, Alana, looks on from behind.
(Pendygraft, John/ZUMA Press/Corbis)
2005: An employee sprays down Mala, 7-month-old Aree, and Josky.
(AP Photo/John Raoux)
2011: Osgood struts his stuff behind a fence at the center.
(Pendygraft, John/ZUMA Press/Corbis)
