1 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:08,360 150 years ago, hardly anyone in Europe had ever seen 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,200 a living African elephant, 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,840 and then an enormous male arrived. 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:16,600 His name was Jumbo, 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:21,520 and his story is extraordinary and dramatic. 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,640 He was rumoured to be largest elephant on the planet 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,520 and his celebrity status took him across the globe. 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,160 Millions flocked to see him during his lifetime, 9 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:37,800 and it's said that he inspired 10 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,960 Hollywood movies long after his death. 11 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,760 But contemporary accounts reveal a troubled life 12 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,760 fuelled by alcohol, with episodes of terrifying violence, 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,760 a near mystical relationship with his keeper 14 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,680 and a tragic end that seems hard to believe. 15 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,560 Now, I'm going to look beyond Jumbo's celebrity 16 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,320 for the real elephant behind the myths. 17 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,480 How big was he in reality? 18 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,760 And what is the truth behind the mysteries 19 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:12,960 that surround his tragic death? 20 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,280 With access to Jumbo's physical remains, 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,240 those questions can finally be answered. 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,440 And with the help of a team of scientists, 23 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,040 elephant experts and conservationists, 24 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,880 I will try to find out how our understanding of elephants 25 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,160 has changed since Jumbo's time. 26 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:39,000 This is the story of the world's first animal superstar. 27 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,560 This is the story of Jumbo. 28 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,440 In 1882, a unique shipment is about to arrive 29 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,720 here in one of the busiest ports in the world. 30 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,440 On board, in a massive wooden crate, 31 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,000 is an animal that has already captured hearts in Britain. 32 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,400 His name is Jumbo 33 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,360 and he's now all set to become a superstar - 34 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:35,840 the most famous animal in the world. 35 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,000 My investigation into Jumbo's life 36 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,200 begins at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 37 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,480 There are elephant skeletons on display here as in many museums 38 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,360 around the world, but what I'm looking for 39 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,080 lies behind the scenes. 40 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,840 Jumbo's remains were brought here after his death 41 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,320 and are still among the most treasured specimens 42 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:13,760 in the collections. 43 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:22,480 It's hard to think of a more famous animal than Jumbo. 44 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,920 I mean, we have a lot of famous specimens 45 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:29,920 in the museum, but it's hard to imagine another specimen 46 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:32,680 that carries with it so much history, 47 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,320 so much lore and legend. 48 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,720 All these bones have been kept in the museum's 49 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,960 special temperature controlled storage unit 50 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:03,120 for decades, unexamined, 51 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,000 but now they're being brought out for another look at them. 52 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:12,720 For the first time in their history, 53 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,920 the museum has granted access to Jumbo's skeleton 54 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,040 for scientific analysis, and I'll be joining an international team 55 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,000 of researchers as they attempt to answer some of the mysteries 56 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,160 that still surround this giant. 57 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,680 One of the important things about collections 58 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,320 and the reason the museum has great collections like this, 59 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,560 including Jumbo, is that technologies come about 60 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,800 that allow you to re-look at these specimens 61 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,360 in ways you never imagined before. 62 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,720 Among the team carrying out this first-ever full survey 63 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:53,760 of Jumbo is Dr Richard Thomas, 64 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:57,880 a researcher of ancient animal bones from the University of Leicester. 65 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,240 With him is Professor John Hutchinson, 66 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:04,360 from the Royal Veterinary College, 67 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,400 an authority on locomotion in large land animals. 68 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:14,000 Finally, Dr Holly Miller from the University of Nottingham, 69 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,520 who will be analysing the chemical content of Jumbo's bones 70 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,720 for clues about his diet and overall health. 71 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,880 And this is what remains of Jumbo. 72 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:48,400 There are of course hundreds, if not thousands, of elephant skeletons 73 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,360 in museums around the world, 74 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,920 so why should this particular one be of special interest? 75 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,400 Well, when Jumbo was alive, 76 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,760 many people believed that he was the biggest 77 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:02,960 living land animal on Earth. 78 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:07,000 Certainly the biggest that anyone had ever seen. 79 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,160 20 million people came to see him, 80 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,400 and after his death, many continued to do so. 81 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,920 But many mysteries remain. 82 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:20,880 Exactly how big was he 83 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:27,200 and why did he have terrible fits of rage and violence during the night 84 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,920 that led him to demolish the cages in which he was kept? 85 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:35,000 And, above all, how did he die? 86 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,120 Even that is still a mystery. 87 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,440 While the scientists across the Atlantic begin their study 88 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,840 of Jumbo's bones, I am looking through the archives 89 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:51,560 of the London Zoo to try and trace his story 90 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,320 from Africa to Britain and ultimately to America. 91 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:10,400 This register records every important event at London Zoo 92 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,000 and the entry for June 26th 1865 93 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,880 notes the arrival of one African elephant. 94 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,120 It was called Jumbo. 95 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,560 The name in Swahili means "hello". 96 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,240 Today, because of this elephant, 97 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,080 the word Jumbo has come to mean something that's extremely large. 98 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:38,720 But, in fact, Jumbo didn't arrive as a giant. 99 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:39,880 Far from it. 100 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,600 The first image of him here is as a small orphan, 101 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:44,960 so how did he get here? 102 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,480 During the 19th century, new zoos across Europe and North America 103 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,040 were looking for spectacular exhibits 104 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,000 that would attract visitors. 105 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,960 Elephants were an obvious choice. 106 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,720 The first to appear were Asian elephants. 107 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:21,520 They are found in India eastwards to south East Asia 108 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:26,360 and as far as the visitors to the London Zoo in Victorian times 109 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,320 were concerned, they were the biggest animals they had ever seen. 110 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,800 But African elephants are much bigger. 111 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:42,080 In fact, they are the largest living land animals on the planet 112 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:43,760 and unlike Asian elephants, 113 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,200 they have hardly ever been domesticated. 114 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,640 They were once widespread across the continent 115 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,640 and records suggest that Jumbo had been captured somewhere 116 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:02,520 in the north-east. 117 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,600 A 19th century traveller exploring the Sudan 118 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,200 has left an account of the brutal way 119 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,400 in which the local people hunted elephants. 120 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,320 They would find a mother and her calf, 121 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,600 chase them until they were both exhausted 122 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,240 and then spear the mother to death and take the baby. 123 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,000 So, young Jumbo almost certainly would have witnessed 124 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,120 the death of his mother. 125 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:32,880 Here. 126 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,480 Hunting is still a huge problem in Africa. 127 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:44,080 Adults are killed for their ivory tusks 128 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,920 and they often leave behind young orphans - 129 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,720 motherless babies just like young Jumbo. 130 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,960 As the first of his kind in a British zoo, 131 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:02,880 Jumbo was bound to attract a lot of attention, 132 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,600 but his arrival happened to coincide 133 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,480 with a relatively new technique called photography 134 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,120 and that would help to immortalise him. 135 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:19,800 Throughout this rich visual record of Jumbo's life, 136 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,800 the image of one man occurs 137 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,400 again and again and again. 138 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:31,440 He was a man whose life became totally bound up with Jumbo's. 139 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,440 His name was Matthew Scott, Jumbo's keeper. 140 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:43,040 Scott was known to be a difficult man with no close friends, 141 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,000 and he was no expert on elephants, 142 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,360 but he did have a deep empathy for animals of all kinds. 143 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,520 Within hours of meeting, man and beast had bonded, 144 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,440 and unusually for a working man of the time, Scott wrote 145 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,040 an account, an autobiography of his life with Jumbo. 146 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,120 This is it. There've been lots of books written about Jumbo, 147 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,960 but this is by far the most touching and first-hand. 148 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,960 Here's Scott describing his first meeting with Jumbo. 149 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:24,520 "I thought I never saw a creature so woebegone. 150 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,920 "The poor thing was full of disease, 151 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:29,280 "which had worked its way through the animal's hide 152 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,000 "and had almost eaten out its eyes." 153 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:39,520 Scott now set out on his mission to raise the young elephant. 154 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:43,440 It was the beginning of a truly remarkable relationship. 155 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,200 Scott had never cared for a young elephant before 156 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:52,480 and it must have seemed a daunting task. 157 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,520 The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya 158 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,840 knows exactly how difficult it is. 159 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,120 Head keeper Edwin Lusichi, like Scott, 160 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:07,000 is caring for a new orphan who has just arrived. 161 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:12,200 This elephant close to me is called Musiara. 162 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,760 He was rescued from the Masai Mara. 163 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:19,360 He was found stuck in the mud when he was only about two months old 164 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:21,800 and he seems to have stayed there for quite some time, 165 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:25,880 because he was very skinny, very thin and very weak, 166 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,320 a sign that he had been without the mother for quite some time. 167 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,680 And we hope for the best for him. 168 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,560 Musiara is so traumatised by his experience, 169 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:45,000 a keeper will have to stay by his side 24 hours a day. 170 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,280 There's no quick easy fix when raising orphaned elephants. 171 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:54,000 I mean, you're in for the long term. 172 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,040 Some arrive in perfectly good shape, 173 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:03,360 but the majority have had a dramatic story before they get to us. 174 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,400 The first step is straightforward physical care, 175 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:13,880 but they need more than that. 176 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:19,520 Elephants are highly social. 177 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:23,400 Musiara, like Jumbo, needs what he would have received 178 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:28,000 from his elephant family - constant company, touching and love. 179 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,320 They need that emotional support. 180 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:39,200 Elephants are all about love and family 181 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,320 and that is what our orphans have been robbed of, 182 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:46,680 and one has to very, very quickly plug that gap 183 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:50,080 and it really is the keepers at this early stage 184 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,480 where that strong bond is formed. 185 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,480 Matthew Scott's autobiography makes it clear 186 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,000 that he instinctively gave Jumbo the emotional support he needed. 187 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,440 "I undertook to be his doctor, his nurse and general servant. 188 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,560 "I watched and nursed him night and day 189 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:21,680 "with all the care and affection of a mother, 190 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,000 "if it were possible for a man to do such a thing." 191 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,840 His approach clearly worked, because six months later, 192 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,280 Jumbo looked like a different elephant 193 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,080 and could at last be displayed to the public. 194 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:42,920 By the time he was six, 195 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,520 he was beginning to carry children on rides around the zoo, 196 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,960 and they apparently rewarded him with sticky buns. 197 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,520 Lots of sticky buns. 198 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,640 Jumbo quickly became hugely popular. 199 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:59,320 Even Queen Victoria's children took rides on his back. 200 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,360 But had this once wild African elephant 201 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,000 really grown into a gentle giant? 202 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:11,600 As Jumbo grew, he was moved from his stable next to the giraffe house 203 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,440 into a larger enclosure. 204 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,880 But London Zoo's records from the time tell us that, 205 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,320 behind the scenes, all was not well. 206 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:25,160 Jumbo's calmness during the day was in sharp contrast 207 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,080 to his behaviour at night. 208 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,360 Then he would become possessed by terrifyingly violent rages 209 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,960 in which he would smash the timbers of his enclosure, 210 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:36,880 and he did that so regularly 211 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,720 that carpenters would have to be called in again and again 212 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:42,440 in order to make repairs. 213 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,800 Apparently, he had a curious Jekyll and Hyde character 214 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,960 and one that would persist during his time in London. 215 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:56,280 Remarkably, Matthew Scott makes no real mention of Jumbo's rages. 216 00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,520 But evidence for these violent outbursts can be readily seen 217 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:02,400 in the photos of the time. 218 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:12,960 Male African elephants grow the longest of all tusks, 219 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:14,960 yet in nearly every photo, 220 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:19,240 Jumbo's tusks seem small or even non-existent. 221 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,800 The head of London Zoo at the time, Abraham Bartlett, 222 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,360 has left an account of what happened to Jumbo's tusks. 223 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,920 During these terrifying nocturnal rages, 224 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:43,320 Jumbo damaged not only his enclosure, but himself 225 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:47,840 on one such occasion as Bartlett records in his book. 226 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:52,200 "Jumbo broke both his tusks by driving them 227 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,120 "through the ironwork of his den. 228 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,800 "The tusks were broken off within his mouth 229 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,280 "probably close to his upper jaw bone." 230 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,960 And then when they did grow again, 231 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,280 Jumbo ground them down against the stonework. 232 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,280 But what could be the cause of his night-time outbursts 233 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,880 and terrible acts of self-harm? 234 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:21,200 Maybe his bones back in New York could contain some clues. 235 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,040 I join Richard and John as they examine 236 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,720 the most impressive part of Jumbo's remains - his huge skull. 237 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,640 One of the first things we see when we look at his skull 238 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,280 is just how malformed his teeth are. 239 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,720 Here. Yeah. I mean, we can see this tooth here is really curved 240 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,600 in this direction, and on the other side, it's curved again. 241 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:49,600 They should have been straight, Richard? 242 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:51,880 Yeah, you wouldn't expect to see the tooth bent 243 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,880 in this kind of way in a normal, healthy elephant. 244 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,760 We can think of elephant teeth a bit like conveyor belts, 245 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,880 so they have six teeth, but only ever one of them 246 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,680 will be in wear on each side at any one time 247 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,720 and another one will be coming in underneath and behind it 248 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:11,080 to replace it at the time which that tooth falls out. 249 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,720 When that tooth doesn't wear down enough, 250 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,280 what happens is it gets stuck in the mouth 251 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,400 and it stays there, but the other tooth carries on developing 252 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,560 and moving up behind it, and because it's softer, 253 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:25,680 because it hasn't formed properly, 254 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,200 what happens is it hits the tooth that's impacted 255 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,120 and bends, bends out of shape. 256 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:34,360 You can see right here that there's this gap. 257 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:36,920 All that sweet food and other inappropriate diet 258 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,840 that Jumbo was having could have gotten stuck 259 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,400 and even gotten into the root and the gum 260 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,720 where infection could have got started, 261 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,240 or at least inflammation. Probably pretty painful, I would think. 262 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,360 So, Jumbo had terrible toothache? 263 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:52,240 Yeah. I'm afraid so. 264 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:53,760 Ah, poor old thing. 265 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:04,480 In the wild, African elephants adapt their diet to the changing seasons. 266 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,080 During the wet season, 267 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:10,600 grass can make up 90% of what they eat, but in drier months, 268 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,200 they will browse on twigs and leaves and even bark. 269 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,520 Their ridged teeth help grind down this more fibrous food, 270 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,800 making it easier to digest. 271 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:24,960 But what of Jumbo? 272 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:30,440 Was his diet in captivity really as poor as his deformed teeth suggest? 273 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:44,360 Dr Holly Miller, from the University of Nottingham, may help answer that. 274 00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:46,960 By taking samples from Jumbo's bones, 275 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,440 particularly the femur or leg bone and the ribs, 276 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,880 she hopes to discover more about his diet. 277 00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:59,640 These tiny samples could tell us a lot 278 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,640 about the food Jumbo was eating 279 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,280 and reveal whether or not that affected his overall health. 280 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,840 Jumbo has some interesting stories to tell. 281 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:20,160 So, his femur results, that gives us the diet, 282 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,320 a broad idea of the diet for about 20 years, 283 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,400 and the ribs a lot shorter period of that, 284 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:26,880 maybe ten, five to ten years. 285 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:28,960 So we're seeing his diet in London 286 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,040 and some of his diet in America, possibly, 287 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:36,400 and we're seeing largely a very stable diet in that period. 288 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,360 Does that match with the suggestion that his diet 289 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,320 was actually almost entirely hay and penny buns? 290 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:46,360 Yes, we are definitely seeing some suggestion that he's not getting 291 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:49,240 the variety of diet that other elephants should. 292 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,800 What they should have in their diet is a lot of browse. 293 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,000 They use their trunks to access the top of trees 294 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,760 and they get twigs and bark which helps them 295 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:00,040 break down the diet. 296 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,200 The pathologies we saw with his teeth, they were coming through 297 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,600 in the wrong angle and they were soft. 298 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:09,640 They're not hardening because they're not being used 299 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,840 in the right way, they're not being used 300 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,760 to grind down the right sort of food. 301 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,560 So it seems that elephants, just like humans, 302 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:23,240 can suffer severe dental problems if they don't have the right diet. 303 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,800 But was this having an effect on Jumbo's behaviour? 304 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:35,800 Anyone's who's had toothache knows that it seems worse at night 305 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:37,680 when you have no distractions, 306 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,920 so maybe this is one of the explanations 307 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:46,320 for Jumbo's terrifying nocturnal rages, 308 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:48,840 and maybe, too, it supports the story 309 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,080 that Matthew Scott, his keeper, 310 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,760 used to feed him lots of whisky in order to calm him. 311 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,360 Scott, apparently, had no family or close friends 312 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:03,920 and he totally devoted himself to Jumbo, 313 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,440 even to the extent that the two of them would often drink 314 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:08,800 late into the night. 315 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,680 But Scott's unorthodox methods to help pacify Jumbo 316 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,560 do little to calm his boss's nerves. 317 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,240 Abraham Bartlett worries that instead of attacking 318 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:25,000 his cage at night, Jumbo, by day, might turn on the public, 319 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,480 including children. 320 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:35,400 As a precaution, he purchases a gun in case he has to shoot Jumbo. 321 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,680 Bartlett becomes convinced that Jumbo is suffering 322 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:48,760 not from toothache, but from musth, a natural condition periodically 323 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,400 affecting young male elephants when they become sexually mature. 324 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:03,080 During musth, testosterone levels in males can increase 60-fold 325 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,240 and they become extremely aggressive. 326 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,360 The temporal glands on the head behind the eyes swell and leak, 327 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:14,560 and the elephants, as they walk, discharge an almost continuous 328 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,440 dribble of urine, creating a scent trail. 329 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,960 Until recently, there was little research on young male elephants. 330 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,480 Dr Vicki Fishlock is one of a team of researchers 331 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,440 who've been studying males in Kenya's Amboseli National Park 332 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,040 and she's now beginning to understand 333 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,120 what drives their behaviour. 334 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,400 Was Abraham Bartlett right about musth 335 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,720 being the cause of Jumbo's aggression? 336 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,160 So, males in musth are really signalling 337 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,000 their competitive ability, 338 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,080 they are really signalling that they're in great shape 339 00:23:58,080 --> 00:23:59,800 and that females should mate with them 340 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:01,480 and that other males should look out. 341 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:05,640 Musth is really a way of saying, 342 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,880 "I'm here, I'm big and I'm on a mission." 343 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,440 I usually say they're cruising for girls and trouble. 344 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,000 In the wild, musth usually starts 345 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,000 when a male elephant is in his mid to late 20s. 346 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,560 But in captivity, musth can begin much earlier, 347 00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:31,320 and, indeed, Jumbo was 21 when his night rages intensified. 348 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,720 Could his heightened aggression come from musth? 349 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,000 Vicki is not convinced. 350 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:44,200 Musth is really, for elephants, a state about dominance, 351 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,040 and establishing dominance. 352 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:50,080 So, if Jumbo's rages had been associated with musth, 353 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,880 you would expect that would be directed not just 354 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,840 to his physical surroundings, but to his keepers as well, 355 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,120 who were also controlling his behaviour in some way. 356 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:03,840 So, you'd expect him to have directed some aggression 357 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,120 towards the humans around him. 358 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:10,240 But there is nothing in the historical records 359 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,720 to suggest that Jumbo was ever violent towards people. 360 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:17,560 So, was Abraham Bartlett mistaken 361 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,560 for blaming Jumbo's increasing aggression on musth? 362 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,360 Could there perhaps be another explanation? 363 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:39,200 Work in the United States with retired zoo and circus elephants 364 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,920 may provide the answer. 365 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:44,120 Sookie, trunk here. 366 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,880 The behavioural problems that afflicted Jumbo 367 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,640 more than 100 years ago are all too familiar to carers 368 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,920 who work with the African elephants here 369 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,200 in the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. 370 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,480 The sanctuary was created to provide a home 371 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,920 for old or unwanted elephants across America. 372 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:16,360 The elephants themselves had been captured as orphans in Africa 373 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:20,440 and then kept isolated or locked up, like Jumbo. 374 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,880 When they first arrive here, many are extremely agitated 375 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,040 and aggressive, and evidence of self-harm 376 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:32,440 is all too obvious. 377 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:37,400 Their tusks worn down by repeated rubbing against their den walls. 378 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,600 The similarities to Jumbo are clear. 379 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:52,760 But there is one big difference - these elephants are all female. 380 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,800 So, clearly their aggressiveness cannot be due 381 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,720 to a surge of male hormones. 382 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,960 In fact, their behaviour quickly improves as they settle in 383 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,800 and build friendships with other elephants in the sanctuary. 384 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:18,200 We now know that elephants are extremely social animals, 385 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:22,360 they need the company of their own kind. 386 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,480 And we also know that they're extremely intelligent, 387 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,680 they easily get bored. 388 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,640 So keeping a single elephant in captivity 389 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,200 is not a way to rear a happy and healthy elephant. 390 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,440 To visitors to London Zoo in the 19th century, 391 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:44,720 Jumbo did indeed appear to be a happy elephant, 392 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,320 but they had no idea of his aggressive darker side. 393 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,960 Bartlett kept that a secret. 394 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,520 And back at the museum in New York, 395 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,040 there is evidence that his life in captivity 396 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,680 was also damaging his physical health. 397 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,640 When we look at the knee, we see all sorts of kind of changes in the bone 398 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,040 that we wouldn't really expect to see in an elephant of his age. 399 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,280 Remember, Jumbo's only 24 and still growing. 400 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:13,560 But what we see actually when we start looking at the bone surface, 401 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:15,760 we can see it's really roughened 402 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,240 and you'll see these extra lumps of bone that shouldn't be there. 403 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:20,760 You've got them on this side 404 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,560 and John's got them on the side of the tibia here. 405 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:27,120 Yeah, there's some bumps invading into the joint surface itself, 406 00:28:27,120 --> 00:28:28,800 which is not a good sign. 407 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,720 And what these are is, these are lumps of bone 408 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,360 at the point where ligaments are attaching to the joints, 409 00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:38,040 and the bone is adapting to try and compensate 410 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,600 for all those stresses he's experiencing. 411 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,400 For a 24-year-old elephant, it's kind of like a 24-year-old person 412 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,760 having similar kinds of joint problems. 413 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,720 Well, we know Jumbo carried loads of people, certainly children, 414 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:54,360 I think even adults, could that have produced this consequence? 415 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,080 Sure, yeah, loading them up with people and walking them around 416 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,120 on a hard surface and not giving them the right diet, 417 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,600 all these factors could spiral together 418 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,040 and give Jumbo problems like these joint inflammation problems. 419 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,320 So, far from being bad-tempered with his nocturnal rages, 420 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,760 it sounds as though he was extraordinarily patient 421 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,680 day after day after day to carry passengers, 422 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,120 which is what the zoo did. 423 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,680 There is no doubt that Jumbo was held in deep affection 424 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:30,680 by the general public, but his bones suggest that he was 425 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,480 in effect being harmed by those who adored him most. 426 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,920 The stresses and strains of captivity combined with a poor diet 427 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,600 and hundreds of rides at London Zoo created symptoms 428 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,240 usually associated with old age. 429 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:51,160 His bones are more like an elephant in its 40s or 50s 430 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:52,480 than in its 20s. 431 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,720 There's nothing in the zoo's records suggesting that they had concerns 432 00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:58,920 about Jumbo's health. 433 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,840 But the head of the zoo, Abraham Bartlett, 434 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:05,640 was still extremely worried 435 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,760 about Jumbo's fits of uncontrollable violence. 436 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,160 As a result, he makes a shocking decision - 437 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,280 to try and sell the popular elephant, 438 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,920 and he hears of a possible buyer, 439 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,080 the famous American circus showman, PT Barnum. 440 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,640 News that Barnum was looking for an African elephant 441 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:30,960 reached the London Zoo in the form of a telegram which said, 442 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,920 "What was the lowest price that they would accept 443 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:35,800 "for their African elephant?" 444 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,280 Here was a marvellous opportunity for Bartlett to get rid 445 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:45,600 of his problematic elephant and he cabled back £2,000. 446 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,920 That's over £150,000 in today's money, 447 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:53,960 an enormous sum, and this register shows that it was accepted. 448 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:00,280 PT Barnum was the owner 449 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:03,920 of the popular Greatest Show on Earth touring circus, 450 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:06,960 which already featured 20 Asian elephants. 451 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:08,600 He was an astute businessman, 452 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:12,000 who had made his fortune exhibiting fake curiosities 453 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:17,520 and he wanted a star attraction to draw in crowds to his new circus. 454 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,720 Barnum sent his head elephant keeper to collect Jumbo 455 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,520 and we know how difficult a task that proved to be, 456 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,920 because newspapers of the time reported in detail 457 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:32,920 on this highly public event. 458 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:42,360 As crowds gathered, he attached chains round the elephant's neck. 459 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,160 Jumbo ripped them off. 460 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,680 They attached more chains and eventually got him 461 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,640 to the mouth of the crate, whereupon Jumbo, sensing a trap, 462 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,840 simply lowered himself onto his stomach and sat there, 463 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,880 and nothing anybody could do would make him budge. 464 00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:05,960 Both Bartlett and Barnum began to suspect that his keeper Scott 465 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,440 was using some form of secret language with Jumbo 466 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,280 to make him unwilling to leave the zoo. 467 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,200 Could that be possible? 468 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,840 Could man and elephant have talked to each other? 469 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,640 Today, we know that elephants use a variety of ways to communicate, 470 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:27,440 but it's taken decades of field research to decode 471 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,280 the many sounds and signals that they use. 472 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,360 Despite having poor eyesight, 473 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:43,640 elephants will use visual signals to communicate when near each other. 474 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,960 Their ears, trunks and tails can all be used 475 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,320 to indicate emotional moods. 476 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,840 Come on. Back here. Go. 477 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,040 In recent years, scientists have come to discover 478 00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:00,240 that elephants are even able to understand a gesture 479 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,960 that we tend to think of as uniquely human - 480 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:04,000 pointing. 481 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,320 Not only that, it's been shown that they can distinguish 482 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,280 between different human voices. 483 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:15,640 So, was Matthew Scott secretly telling Jumbo to stay put? 484 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,120 I'm absolutely sure that in a situation 485 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,640 where you have a one-on-one relationship, 486 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:24,360 like Jumbo had with his keeper, 487 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,120 the trust that gets built up enables two-way communication. 488 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:34,400 And what happens next seems to support this. 489 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,640 Barnum offered to take on Scott as Jumbo's keeper, 490 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,360 to go with his beloved elephant to America, 491 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:45,360 and almost immediately after this deal is agreed, Jumbo cooperated. 492 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:53,280 As the frenzy about Jumbo's departure reached its peak, 493 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:59,680 20,000 people a day assembled at the zoo to protest about it. 494 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:04,720 A court case was filed to try and prevent the bargain. 495 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,640 Queen Victoria was said to be extremely upset. 496 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:10,720 But the deal had been done. 497 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:16,760 On the 22nd of March 1882, in the middle of the night, 498 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,840 crowds of onlookers assembled 499 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:23,240 to watch Jumbo being pulled to the docks by 12 horses, 500 00:34:23,240 --> 00:34:28,160 with Scott standing, stroking his elephant's trunk in reassurance. 501 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:42,640 Jumbo arrived at five o'clock in the morning 502 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:45,200 down here at St Katherine's Dock. 503 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:49,600 He was loaded onto a barge and then taken out to the Assyrian Monarch, 504 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:53,160 the British ship that was going to take him across the Atlantic. 505 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,640 He drank some beer, followed by a whisky chaser, 506 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:01,040 and then the world's most famous elephant 507 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,160 was ready for his departure. 508 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,120 As the ship slowly sailed down the Thames, 509 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:10,280 thousands lined its banks to wish him well. 510 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:16,280 The publicity surrounding his departure had not gone unnoticed 511 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,800 on the other side of the Atlantic, 512 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,800 and would ensure that a huge crowd would be waiting to receive him. 513 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,080 It was a two-week journey across the ocean to New York City 514 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,800 and it must have been a horrible trip for the animal. 515 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,880 It seems that, at times, he was a little seasick 516 00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:43,000 and had to be kept calm with alcohol. 517 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,080 But over in America, Jumbo-mania was already erupting, 518 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:52,920 and his new owner, PT Barnum, was keen to fuel this excitement. 519 00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:00,240 When the Assyrian Monarch reached the Hudson River, 520 00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:03,920 Barnum chartered a small boat to take him out to the ship 521 00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:09,120 so that he could see his purchase for the very first time. 522 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:11,480 Was it really as big as he had hoped? 523 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,200 Barnum declared, without hesitation, 524 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:19,840 that this was the biggest African elephant in the world, 525 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:21,600 whether that was true or not. 526 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:33,360 To discover how big Jumbo really was, we can turn to his bones again. 527 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:37,000 The team will use his leg bone as a starting point. 528 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,440 So, one of the things we can do is we can take the femur, 529 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,080 so we can take the leg bone... This bone? This bone here, yeah. 530 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:48,720 ..and we can measure the length. 531 00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:52,160 Because this is the bone that is the longest bone in the elephant's body 532 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,600 and it gives us a good indication of how tall Jumbo might have been. 533 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:58,200 So, how long is it? 534 00:36:58,200 --> 00:36:59,720 107 centimetres. 535 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,440 So the circumference is... 536 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:09,600 ..39 centimetres. 537 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,160 We can estimate his weight at around 6,000 kilograms - 538 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,320 that's not obese for his height. 539 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:21,080 Jumbo is measuring in at 3.2 metres tall. 540 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:22,880 And we know how old he was? 541 00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,360 And we know how old he is and that's really, really important. 542 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,600 We know he's 24 at the time of his death. 543 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:33,080 What we can establish is what a normal wild African elephant 544 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:35,520 should be at shoulder height at that age. 545 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,560 And that would be about 2.7 metres. Wow! 546 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:40,680 So 3.2 metres... So he's 3.2 metres? 547 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:44,960 That's pretty tall. Actually, that's 20% different. 548 00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:46,320 That's an enormous difference. 549 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,920 Yeah, Jumbo was taller than he should be for his age. Wow. 550 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:52,040 That's surprising. 551 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,760 Jumbo is about 20% taller. 552 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:58,000 Yeah. 3.2 metres is what he really was at the shoulder 553 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,720 and instead what he should have been for a wild African elephant 554 00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:05,200 at 24 years of age would be more like 2.7 metres. 555 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,840 Really? So he's... He's a leggy elephant for his age. 556 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,400 So, Jumbo's height was around 10 feet 6 inches, 557 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,880 or 3.2 metres, at the time of his death. 558 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,760 Evidence from wild elephants 559 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:25,960 suggests that they can reach up to 13 feet, or 4 metres, in height 560 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,160 and will weigh almost 7,000 kilograms. 561 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,400 But his leg bone tells us more. 562 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:38,520 This...zig-zag line here, this crack, 563 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:42,640 tells us, I assume, that he was still growing? 564 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,120 Yes, absolutely right. 565 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,600 So, the ends of the bone are separate 566 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:48,240 from the main body of the bone 567 00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:52,000 when mammals are growing, and eventually they will unite 568 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:53,880 when the animal reaches its full size, 569 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,560 but we can see here... Because this crack is still open, 570 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:58,880 we can see that Jumbo is still growing. 571 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,360 Male African elephants continue to grow until they're 40, 572 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,640 so Jumbo had another 16 years of growing. 573 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:10,880 So, although he wasn't quite as tall as Barnum said he was, 574 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:15,040 this animal had the potential of being exceptionally big. 575 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,120 Yeah, he could've been a record-breaker 576 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,240 if he had had that 16 extra years to grow. 577 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:27,800 Jumbo's leg shows us that he was indeed a very big elephant. 578 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:31,120 In fact, he was bigger than you would expect 579 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,640 for an elephant of his age. 580 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:38,600 He wasn't as big as Barnum claimed, but he was still growing, 581 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:42,960 and he could have actually matched that claim, had he lived. 582 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:49,800 But then, as Jumbo tours North America with the circus, 583 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,200 there is a major change. 584 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:53,600 TRAIN WHISTLES 585 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,720 With 20 other elephants to keep him company, 586 00:39:58,720 --> 00:40:01,240 Jumbo has a lot more stimulation 587 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:04,720 and there are no accounts of the night rages he suffered in London. 588 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,560 And, of course, Matthew Scott, his keeper from London Zoo, 589 00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:12,560 is by his side throughout. 590 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:19,440 But what about Jumbo's health at this time? 591 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,040 The research team has another find to show me - 592 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:29,240 a rather gruesome piece of Jumbo's remains. 593 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:41,000 So, this rather extraordinary relic is actually Jumbo's tail. Oh. 594 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,960 It's actually a really key part of the Jumbo puzzle 595 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:46,600 from Tufts University in Massachusetts, 596 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:51,040 where they held Jumbo's stuffed body after he died. 597 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,560 But, unfortunately, that was lost in a fire, 598 00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:55,920 but we still have the remarkable tail. 599 00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:01,840 And what we have is these hairs, some very thick and some very thin. 600 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,440 The thinner ones are new growth. 601 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:08,160 We can take some samples of these finer hairs 602 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,400 and one of the thicker, longer-growing hairs 603 00:41:11,400 --> 00:41:16,840 so we get a nice snapshot of Jumbo's diet almost right before he died. 604 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:18,360 Who would have thought it? 605 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:23,240 While Holly analyses the chemical content of Jumbo's tail, 606 00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:27,920 Richard and John discover something unusual about Jumbo's hip bone. 607 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:29,680 Never seen this - both sides. 608 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,560 It's both sides and it's also the same layering effect. 609 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,160 You've got the...sort of older, remodelled bone underneath 610 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,200 and you've got this layer of active new bone forming on the top. 611 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,520 Really, really very pronounced. 612 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:44,880 Huh. That's a lot of inflammation. 613 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:45,960 Oh, it's incredible. 614 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:49,560 VOICEOVER: He's got so many signs of stress and strain-related injuries - 615 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,840 they must have been incredibly painful for him, 616 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,320 but may have reflected the use to which he was put, 617 00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:56,880 both in London and in a circus in America. 618 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,480 Big patch of bone. Yeah, huge, huge. 619 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,320 Could these signs of inflammation indicate that Jumbo's health 620 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:05,120 was in serious decline? 621 00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:07,200 Never seen anything like that. Does it go around? 622 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,680 Holly has now had time to look at the chemical clues 623 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,520 in the hair samples from Jumbo's tail, 624 00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:16,240 and of particular interest is the amount of nitrogen, 625 00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:19,280 an element that's crucial to the repair of the body. 626 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,440 Jumbo's nitrogen values are odd 627 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,840 when compared to other elephants in other circumstances, 628 00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:31,000 and we can see that Jumbo is the highest of all these here. 629 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,320 By a long way. By quite a long way, yes. 630 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:36,920 So, elephants can reach these levels 631 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,360 when they're stressed, but it only happens seasonally, 632 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,480 when they're not getting much from their diet. 633 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:45,160 You say "stressed" - that doesn't mean stress on the body, 634 00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:47,280 it means something to do with the diet. 635 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:48,560 Physiologically stressed - 636 00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:50,880 their bodies aren't getting necessarily what they need 637 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:52,320 from their environment. 638 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,280 And if we think about what we saw 639 00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,680 where he was laying down all that new bone in his pelvis - 640 00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:01,400 to create new bone in your body, you need an awful lot of protein, 641 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:04,800 so he would have been taking all of that from his diet. 642 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:09,120 He's also, we think, at the end probably quite sick. 643 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:12,440 We have some written records that suggest that he was unwell 644 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:16,680 towards the end with some sort of wasting disease, potentially. 645 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:21,680 Jumbo's body must have been trying desperately to extract 646 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:25,120 as much nitrogen as it could from his diet 647 00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:27,480 to help repair the bone in his hip. 648 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,760 These injuries were likely related to his treatment in captivity, 649 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:37,680 and it seems that, as a result, Jumbo was losing weight. 650 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,600 There is little doubt that he must have been suffering. 651 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:48,640 But that didn't stop his American owner, PT Barnum, 652 00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:52,320 from finding new ways to promote his biggest elephant. 653 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,920 And a remarkable opportunity soon arose. 654 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,280 The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges 655 00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,360 in the United States. 656 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:11,480 It was, in fact, opened in 1883, 657 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,600 the year after Jumbo arrived in America 658 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:20,160 and, almost immediately, an accident on it led to the death of 12 people. 659 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:27,360 So, to squash any rumours about the bridge's safety, 660 00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:31,440 the authorities agreed to an unusual publicity stunt. 661 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:42,000 On the 17th of May 1884, 662 00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:48,360 thousands of people lined these banks to see 20 elephants, 663 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:52,360 led by Jumbo, marching across the bridge. 664 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,280 What a sight it must have been. 665 00:44:55,480 --> 00:45:00,000 Scott, Jumbo's keeper, was nervous about the whole event. 666 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,480 This is what he writes about it. 667 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:05,440 "When Jumbo put his foot down on the bridge, 668 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:10,320 "the bridge rebounded after the shock given by his foot. 669 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:13,120 "The rebound was met by his second footstep, 670 00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:16,480 "and there was a great vibration caused by it. 671 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,360 "I assure my reader that I was thankful 672 00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:21,760 "when we arrived on the Brooklyn side." 673 00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:31,520 Although Jumbo goes back to touring with the rest of the circus, 674 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,040 all is not well. 675 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:40,640 It seems the bone damage to Jumbo's leg 676 00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,720 is becoming a problem in his day-to-day life. 677 00:45:45,720 --> 00:45:48,760 Not long after the parade across Brooklyn Bridge, 678 00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:51,960 an associate of Barnum's reports in a letter 679 00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:55,320 that an ailing Jumbo could no longer lie down. 680 00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,080 That doesn't stop Barnum, 681 00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:02,880 who's keen to keep the circus travelling with his prize elephant. 682 00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:13,480 In September 1885, 683 00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,920 the circus train crosses the border into Canada 684 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,200 on what should be a routine tour. 685 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:23,080 TRAIN HORN HONKS 686 00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:29,680 I'm keen to follow their journey, 687 00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,320 because the accounts of what happened next 688 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:34,480 are shocking and tragic. 689 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,920 In the 1880s, St Thomas, Ontario is the perfect stop 690 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:48,120 for Barnum & Bailey's Circus. 691 00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:51,800 It's the central hub for 26 different railways 692 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,960 that converged here from all over North America. 693 00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:00,400 On the day when the circus comes to town, 694 00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:03,600 Jumbo is once again the main attraction, 695 00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:06,480 drawing crowds from miles around. 696 00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:12,240 By the late evening, the show is over. 697 00:47:12,240 --> 00:47:16,160 The tents are being taken down, the performers are packing up 698 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,800 and the animals are being led down to the train. 699 00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:22,640 Jumbo and a small elephant called Tom Thumb 700 00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:24,920 are the last to be loaded 701 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:29,400 and, as Matthew Scott leads them towards their boxcar, 702 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:33,480 a freight train comes thundering down the track towards them. 703 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,720 Reports of what happens next differ. 704 00:47:38,720 --> 00:47:44,080 Some eyewitness accounts record Jumbo running away from the train, 705 00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,360 but, soon after, Barnum claims the opposite. 706 00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:53,560 He declares Jumbo's death "a great heroic act", 707 00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:56,400 telling reporters that the large elephant 708 00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:58,960 had run head-first into the train, 709 00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:01,920 sacrificing his own life to save his keeper 710 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:04,520 and Tom Thumb, the smaller elephant. 711 00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:12,240 This image, based on Barnum's account of Jumbo's head-on crash, 712 00:48:12,240 --> 00:48:14,760 was to be published again and again. 713 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:20,440 So, what is the truth? 714 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:24,480 What actually happened on that railroad in St Thomas? 715 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,480 The research team has been looking over Jumbo's bones 716 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:34,320 for signs of injury. 717 00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:39,040 Now that you've seen the entire skeleton, 718 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:41,280 is there anything we can deduce 719 00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:44,080 about the way in which he met his end, his death? 720 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:46,840 Our first thought was we might find some evidence of trauma 721 00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:51,760 in his skeleton that might relate to the impact of the train accident. 722 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:55,160 So we've looked at the skeleton for evidence of fractures, 723 00:48:55,160 --> 00:48:58,600 and we have found no signs of any bone fractures 724 00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:01,680 that affected either his skull or his pelvis. 725 00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:03,200 Amazing. 726 00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:05,760 BELL TOLLS 727 00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:11,960 So the exact details of Jumbo's death are still rather puzzling. 728 00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:17,000 While the rest of the world may have forgotten Jumbo's story, 729 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:21,000 in the town where he died, it's a proud part of their history. 730 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:26,720 The Elgin County Museum is almost a shrine to Jumbo's memory, 731 00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:29,160 and I'm hoping its curator, Mike Baker, 732 00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:33,360 will have some clues to help explain exactly how Jumbo died. 733 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:37,360 This group of things that were found in his stomach 734 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,400 while the skin and the bones are being prepared for mounting - 735 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:42,920 there's a little miniature pig at the back, 736 00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:44,920 which is actually a match safe, 737 00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:47,160 a charm bracelet, a button, 738 00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,000 a collar stud and a tooth... 739 00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:51,680 LAUGHING: I don't want to think about how he got a tooth! 740 00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:54,240 But they're all part of the many, many things 741 00:49:54,240 --> 00:49:57,520 they found in Jumbo's stomach, including quite a few coins. 742 00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:59,840 Coins? Yes, maybe as many as 300. 743 00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:04,200 Mostly pennies. Pennies that I think were supposed to have gone to Scott 744 00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:08,960 as payment for a ride, and then not quite making it to Scott. 745 00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:11,080 Jumbo would have grabbed them with his trunk, 746 00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:15,440 cos I think he was a bit of a kleptomaniac with that trunk. 747 00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:17,120 And these? What are these? 748 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:20,200 Well, these appear to be photographs of the locomotive 749 00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:21,560 that collided with him. 750 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:24,120 The very one? That brought about his death, yeah. 751 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:25,880 Not too many years later. 752 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:27,720 And the most interesting feature 753 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:30,880 is the little tin elephant that someone has cut out, 754 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:34,240 to say, "Yes, this is the locomotive that got Jumbo." Really? 755 00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:36,440 Not sure why they're proud of that, 756 00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:38,640 but they were keen to mark it anyway. 757 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:44,880 Among all this memorabilia 758 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:48,760 is a photograph taken just after Jumbo's death. 759 00:50:56,480 --> 00:50:58,120 This is a much-enlarged version 760 00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:00,640 of the photo that you often see of poor, dead Jumbo. 761 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:03,520 It's taken about a day after the accident. 762 00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:05,240 It's Scott at his head 763 00:51:05,240 --> 00:51:09,520 and one of the owners of the circus, Hutchinson, lying against him. 764 00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:11,840 And it's interesting to see in this photograph... 765 00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:16,960 Now that it's blown up, you can see a series of abrasions on his hide 766 00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,720 and it matches up very nicely with the one good graphic 767 00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:22,680 from soon after the collision. 768 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:29,120 Mike has come across an image of Jumbo that I've not seen before. 769 00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:32,800 It was discovered in an antique print gallery in Washington, 770 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:35,680 and is now on loan to the museum, 771 00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:39,120 and it is the final piece of the Jumbo jigsaw. 772 00:51:41,800 --> 00:51:46,800 It's probably the best depiction of the actual collision with Jumbo. 773 00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:49,360 This was done by an artist possibly on the site 774 00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:51,640 about three days after the collision. 775 00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,800 It matches very nicely with the photographic evidence, 776 00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,680 and you can see the engine coming up behind Jumbo, 777 00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:00,960 so causing the abrasions that you can see in the enlarged photograph. 778 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:04,000 It's the same point of contact. 779 00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:08,560 So here is Matthew Scott, having failed to signal to the locomotive. 780 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:11,600 That is the circus train with the boxcar 781 00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:13,960 that Jumbo was going to get into... Yep. 782 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:18,720 ..and the locomotive has outrun him and hit him in the rear, 783 00:52:18,720 --> 00:52:21,680 and that's the end of poor Jumbo. Exactly. 784 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,520 Not what Barnum said. No, not at all. 785 00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:28,080 So Barnum's story was a complete invention. 786 00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:30,960 Pure bunkum, as you would probably say. 787 00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:32,280 DAVID CHUCKLES 788 00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:39,160 With no evidence of fractures on Jumbo's bones, 789 00:52:39,160 --> 00:52:43,600 it seems the most likely cause of death was internal bleeding. 790 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:46,720 So it's unlikely that Jumbo died instantly, 791 00:52:46,720 --> 00:52:51,400 giving Scott time to say goodbye to his much-loved elephant. 792 00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:06,280 Eyewitness accounts report that Scott rushed to Jumbo's side 793 00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:10,960 and watched as he took one last breath and died. 794 00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:17,000 His devoted keeper is said to have "wept inconsolably" 795 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,080 at the loss of his best friend. 796 00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:23,240 Matthew Scott never really recovered 797 00:53:23,240 --> 00:53:25,880 from the death of his beloved elephant. 798 00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:28,840 He hung around the circus for some time 799 00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:33,200 and then Barnum, in a business-like and brisk way, paid him off 800 00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:38,040 and had Jumbo's body stuffed and mounted and paraded. 801 00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,800 Jumbo was just 24 when he died. 802 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:54,960 His death became front-page news around the world. 803 00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:58,280 The young elephant who had 804 00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:00,120 arrived at London Zoo as an orphan 805 00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:02,440 had become a hugely popular 806 00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:04,640 and much-loved superstar. 807 00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:12,560 He gave a great number of people enormous pleasure 808 00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:16,400 and a vivid, unforgettable impression of the magnificence 809 00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:20,680 of the natural world that lay far beyond European cities. 810 00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:24,880 But we now know that the life he led 811 00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:27,840 was not the right life for an elephant. 812 00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:34,800 Keeping elephants locked up on their own 813 00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:38,880 goes against everything that they've evolved to be. 814 00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:44,040 Not having any choice, not having anything different 815 00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:47,800 would be really detrimental to their wellbeing, 816 00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:49,480 just like it's bad for people. 817 00:54:58,080 --> 00:54:59,600 In the case of Jumbo, 818 00:54:59,600 --> 00:55:05,320 I don't think there's anything worse than incarcerating an elephant. 819 00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:08,520 A really, really tragic life lost. 820 00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:10,080 Awful. 821 00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:20,400 Maybe it's remarkable he survived as long as he did, 822 00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:23,160 in the conditions that elephants were kept in at the time, 823 00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:26,000 because no-one really knew how to care for an African elephant. 824 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:28,640 They were still mysterious, exotic animals 825 00:55:28,640 --> 00:55:30,720 from deepest, darkest Africa. 826 00:55:38,720 --> 00:55:41,320 We do have the choice of how we take care of elephants, 827 00:55:41,320 --> 00:55:43,960 wherever they are, and Jumbo's a good case 828 00:55:43,960 --> 00:55:46,400 of where we did not take good care of an elephant, 829 00:55:46,400 --> 00:55:47,760 and we can learn from that. 830 00:55:56,120 --> 00:56:00,000 Thankfully, we now have a much deeper understanding 831 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:02,120 of the needs of elephants. 832 00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:06,800 We've come to realise that they should always be in the company 833 00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:11,200 of their own kind so that they can build lasting relationships. 834 00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:15,680 And they need space to live their lives. 835 00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:20,240 But many held in captivity today do not have that space. 836 00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:25,640 130 years after Jumbo was killed, there's good news. 837 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,320 Circuses across Europe and America 838 00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:34,880 are sending their performing elephants into retirement. 839 00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:39,400 Of course, the elephants can't be returned to the wild - 840 00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,040 they were captured too young 841 00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:45,160 to have learned the skills necessary to survive out there. 842 00:56:46,200 --> 00:56:48,880 But, thankfully, there are sanctuaries, 843 00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:50,960 like this one in Tennessee. 844 00:56:55,960 --> 00:56:58,560 Here, there are great areas of woodland, 845 00:56:58,560 --> 00:57:02,400 where the elephants can roam and do what they want to do, 846 00:57:02,400 --> 00:57:04,880 and not what human beings tell them to do. 847 00:57:13,600 --> 00:57:16,840 Jumbo's life was cut cruelly short 848 00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:19,840 but these elephants will have a chance 849 00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:23,600 of having a long and peaceful end to theirs.