The Elephant In The Room
No, really. And an excellent example of taxonomy …
It has come to my attention that P. T. Barnum’s Pygmy Elephant is for sale.
Here’s the description from the seller:
This Elephant is in beautiful condition and dates from the mid 1800’s.
The mounted specimen stands approximately 5′3" tall, it’s approximately 7′ in length and approximately 3′ wide.
The elephant is located in Los Angeles, CA.
This is the information we were given when we acquired the specimen. It was once owned by PT Barnum, and it is said to be a pygmy elephant. We can not be certain if it is a baby or a true dwarf elephant.
It died of natural causes. After it’s death Barnum had it sent to Henry Ward of the Natural Science Museum in Rochester, NY where Henry prepared and mounted it for display. After Henry completed the taxidermy the elephant was returned to Barnum.
Courtesy of Boing Boing
March 11th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Hey, we could buy it for the company with the money we save on the Sopranos!
January 25th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
[...] No fear: I still will post about things like pygmy elephants and nuns with guns. [...]
August 8th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Why keep a dead animal in the house?