this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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I doubt there are many left today. Most of the taming, both African and Asian, in modern history and even historically before that has been done in India and Indonesia, pretty far from the Savannah. In fact, the taming of African elephants for clearing timber in the Belgian Congo was done by employed Mahouts, if I'm not mistaken. No idea who the mastermind behind circus elephants was, but I think the last 3 in all of Europe died a couple of years ago. One famous African Circus Elephant was Jumbo, which just adds to the notion that it was rare.
I can't remember where I read it but it was a good coverage on the historical use of elephants in Africa in pre-colonial, as in during the great african kingdoms. And lets not forget war elephants, in Roman times, were from Africa.
I'll be sure to source my next elephant from Rome. /sarcasm
There is no need for sarcasm.
We tend to forget Africa had great kingdoms, with advanced civilization standards, before colonial times. Those kingdoms ruled the largest continent on the planet for centuries and elephants were animals used for both work and war.
Hanibal took elephants across the Alpes (most died) in order to invade Italy. I seriously doubt the general ordered his elephants from India.
The conversation was about picking an elephant today. In 2024.
Africa had some amazing kingdoms. Some exaggerated stories claim they had palaces with roads encrusted with precious gemstones, but the truth is that the reality of their civilizations were impressive even without embellishment. That's not what our conversation is about, though.
I would still pick the African ones, nonetheless.