Ten Things You Might Not Know About Elephants-- Part 2

3. ELEPHANTS IN OPERA?-- Giuseppe Verdi's "Alda." Before soprano Maria Callas lost weight, a critic quipped that "it was difficult to discern Callas' ankles from those of the elephant..." Another quip at heft contralto Marietta Alboni went "the elephant that swallowed a nightingale."


4. JUMBO--The word jumbo might not have originated with the massive elephant in the Barnum and Bailey Circus, but he definitely popularized it. He was a huge draw in more ways than one. he was killed in 1885 by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario (Railway City Brewing in that town makes a beer called Dead Elephant Ale).

Jumbo's stuffed body toured for four years after that until given to Tufts University where he became the school's mascot.

Big Enough for You? --Cooter