We hunters measure a trophy elephant by tusk size, rather than body size, and as we all know, the first does not necessarily follow from the second. Still, I have always been fascinated by large-bodied elephant.

I have hunted and seen enormous elephant in the Caprivi Strip. I have also hunted East African elephant in Tanzania. The big Caprivi bulls practically dwarf their cousins from the Selous.

It turns out that the three largest-bodied elephant on record lived in a rather small geographical area, in southeastern Angola and northern Namibia. (Pardon the old map. )



For example, the famous Fenykovi elephant, shot near the Cuito River in southeastern Angola, is reputed to have stood approximately 13 feet 2 inches tall and weighed approximately 24,000 pounds. The weight was estimated by scientists, and was reportedly based on measured body size, as compared with other elephant of known weights and sizes.

José Fenykovi (a native Hungarian, who lived in Spain and had a ranch in Angola) tracked and shot this monster elephant, with help from two others, on November 13, 1955. Fenykovi wrote an article about the hunt that was published in the June 4, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. For some nostalgia, here’s the cover, featuring a young Floyd Patterson.



Here is the full article, which I downloaded from SI's archives (see pages 28-31, and pages 75-76 in the original article).













Putting aside the rather awful marksmanship of the hunters (16 bullets from two .416 Rigbys and one .375 H&H Mag. were needed finally to kill the beast!), Fenykovi’s story makes for interesting reading.

Fenykovi donated the elephant’s remains (including the full hide, skull and tusks) to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where it was mounted by the museum’s taxidermists and exhibited in the rotunda. It can still be seen there today.

Here are some photos.

I like the perspective on this one.



This one I took in 2003.



Here are a couple more.





The Fenykovi elephant’s tusks were reportedly in the 90+ pound range and were over 7 feet long. But the elephant is so huge in size, that in these photographs his immense tusks (which are reportedly exact replicas of the real ones) appear deceptively small.

Here is an excerpt from The Smithsonian: 150 Years of Adventure, Discovery, and Wonder by James Conaway (1995), describing the event and the taxidermy work.

"The Fenykovi elephant . . . [is] a huge bull shot near the Cuito River in Angola, where it was skinned and the entire two-ton pelt treated with a truckload of salt before being sent to Washington, along with the tusks, leg bones, and 1,800-pound skull. Most everyone agreed that the Fenykovi elephant was the perfect occupant for the magnificently empty rotunda of the [Smithsonian Institution’s] Natural History Museum.

Chief taxidermist William L. Brown and others threw themselves into the complex and exhausting task of preparing and mounting . . . the largest elephant ever shot; 16 months later, they had produced what would become a symbol of the Institution's expertise and excitement for millions of visitors.

Working under plastic sheeting, with a constant flow of steam pumped in to maintain the proper humidity, the Smithsonian crew constructed a wooden armature slightly smaller than the elephant, and covered it with clay. Plaster of Paris, which would be removed later, then went over the hide covering the clay model. Massive supports were installed, along with a trap door in the elephant's stomach to allow access to the interior. The animal's stance, posed as if walking with its head and trunk erect, appeared very lifelike.

The final product was unveiled in the spring of 1959. The elephant was said to have stood 13 feet, 2 inches in life; when journalists checked it with a tape measure, however, they found it short a few inches, and threatened to embarrass [the museum director] over his claims about the elephant's original height. It was duly explained to them that, had the elephant been reconstructed as if it were standing still, it would indeed have measured up."

Don't you love the investigative journalism of the day!

I have found that the Guinness Book of World Records lists two elephant larger than the Fenykovi elephant.

The first of these elephant - not as tall as the Fenykovi elephant, but heavier - was also killed in southern Angola, near Mucusso, right on the border with Namibia, on November 7, 1974. This elephant reportedly stood 13 feet tall and weighed 26,900 pounds (again, estimated based on size using scientific methods).

The second Guinness elephant was not as heavy as either the Fenykovi or the Mucusso elephant, but was much taller than either of them. This elephant was killed in Damaraland, near Sesfontein, in northern Namibia, on April 4, 1978. He was apparently a rogue and had killed 11 people in the region before his clock was finally punched. This bull had long legs, reportedly stood an astonishing 13 feet, 10 inches tall, and weighed approximately 17,600 pounds.

I have not been able to get any information on the tusk size of either the Mucusso or the Sesfontein elephant, or any other details regarding their hunters or the hunts themselves. I would love to learn more about these and other large-bodied elephant.

Very cool, MR. Thanks for that.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
It turns out that the three largest-bodied elephant on record lived in a rather small geographical area, in southeastern Angola and northern Namibia. (Pardon the old map. )

Don't forget Wankie :

Hwange bulls by H.W.

Thanks for posting. That was a great read.

quote:

We hunters measure a trophy elephant by tusk size, rather than body size, and as we all know, the first does not necessarily follow from the second. Still, I have always been fascinated by large-bodied elephant.

I agree about body size being under valued by hunters. I shot a bull in Makuti and it was not nearly as impressive and imposing as I had hoped.

quote:

"The Fenykovi elephant . . . [is] a huge bull shot near the Cuito River in Angola, where it was skinned and the entire two-ton pelt
treated with a truckload of salt before being sent to Washington, along with the tusks, leg bones, and 1,800-pound skull. Most everyone agreed that the Fenykovi elephant was the perfect occupant for the magnificently empty rotunda of the[ Smithsonian Institution’s] Natural History Museum.

When I see things, such as the skull listed as nearly a ton, I wonder how much blue sky there is in the rest of the specs. Could it be that they added an extra zero? I am not sure that a bull's skull could be even 180 lbs. All that I have seen have been under 100, I would guess.

Another one - don't know its origins but...big:

Very interesting, thanks MR.

Cool - thanks for the effort.

I second the motion --- that is waaay cool!!
G

MR,

That was a very interesting read.Thank you for sharing and the pics.

Best-
Locksley,R

Thanks for the interesting read.
One thing I learned in Africa. Elephants are big! I've seen that one at the Smithsonian. He is big, might even be the definition of big.
Bfly

Thanks MR, that was a terrific read. I get to DC often and have seen him at the Smithsonian. Now its time to revisit again but with a new found appreciation for him.

Thank you MR, I enjoyed your post very much. These are the things along with the experience of most of you that make AC so much fun.

Regards
Aziz

Thats too cool. Now where can I find a bigger gun.

JD

Mike excellent post and pics...
I took my children to the Smithsonian when they were around 10 & 8 years old and saw that elephant in the lobby and never knew the story on the bull ele.. To say the least he is ginormous...

Mike

My pleasure!

I would love to hear from anyone with any additional information concerning the Mucusso or Sesfontein elephant.

mouse93, those Hwange elephant are no pikers, that's for sure!

JBrown, I agree that the 1,800 pound figure for the Fenykovi elephant's skull is clearly a mistake. It might be an estimate of the live weight of the elephant's entire head.

But it's hard to say if even the head and tusks of a live, 12 ton elephant would weigh that much.

That may have been a typo error and 180lbs dried skull might be correct....

Mike

Now that I know the story, I want to go see that bull again! Thank you for your research efforts - much appreciated!

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:

JBrown, I agree that the 1,800 pound figure for the Fenykovi elephant's skull is clearly a mistake. It might be an estimate of the live weight of the elephant's entire head.

But it's hard to say if even the head and tusks of a live, 12 ton elephant would weigh that much.

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
That may have been a typo error and 180lbs dried skull might be correct....

Mike

MR and Mike

I agree with both of you. It could have even been that someone thought that 180 was a typo and "corrected" it.

I also wonder if the skull itself could weigh 180 lbs. I guess it was a huge elephant, so it may have weighed that much.??

My skull and most of those I have seen weighed less than half that. But then, their live weight must have been less than half that of this monster.

Remembering this post a while back, I wanted to point out an online article in Outdoor Life that reads:

http://www.outdoorlife.com/node/4348?photo=4

"On November 13, 1955, in Angola, J.J. Fenykovi of Hungary shot the largest land animal ever taken by a big-game hunter: a 12-ton bull African elephant. The kill required 16 bullets from a .416 Rigby. The elephant's tusks were 7 feet long and weighed about 200 pounds each. The bull's height was 13 feet 2 inches. Twenty-three bearers could not lift the hide, which weighed more than two tons. The elephant was mounted for display in the rotunda of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, where it remains today."

Yes, It seems Chobie is the heartland for giant Elephant.With Wankie to the east, Angola to the north, Namibia to the west and Okavango to the south.
If you look a the Cuito River via Google Earth. you will see that it is very sparse human activity. So hopefully one day this will again be another great Safari destination.

Very interesting. Well done and thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
JBrown, I agree that the 1,800 pound figure for the Fenykovi elephant's skull is clearly a mistake. It might be an estimate of the live weight of the elephant's entire head.

But it's hard to say if even the head and tusks of a live, 12 ton elephant would weigh that much.

I don't think it is a stretch at all that the live weight of the head, tusks, trunk, ears, hide and skull of an elephant of that size would come close to 1800 lbs.

I shot a hippo in the luangwa valley with 28" tusks and the head cut off right behind the skull, skin in tact, that took five people to lift into a large wheelbarrow and was estimated to weigh over 500 lbs. I don't think the head of an elephant that stood 13 feet at the shoulder with large tusks, and trunk would weigh less than three times that of a large hippo.

..................I don't think it was a typo, but a failier to state exactly what they were giving the weight of!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m23rM2WYl8

The elephant that Jeff Rann shoots at the 7:10 timeline in this video is the biggest bull I have ever seen on a hunting show.

Mac, I never thought that they meant the total head was 1800lbs. I will agree with that weight also. My bull ele head it took 8 men to stand it up on the ivory to get it into the truck. That was minus the trunk and one ear.

Mike

I dont know about the entire head, but one molar from my medium sized 16 year old cow weighed 16 kg, or 35 pounds.

Andy

Kathi, You are indeed our African librarian! Thanks...Jon

As always apples too be compared too apples,

I have seen photos of elephant " bulls " that that most obviously are very young animals, might be PAC or something, and these are VERY SMALL BODY SIZE,

A elephant bull of 25-35 pounds, at a age of 20 - 30 years is still small in body, it is only when they grow older, in my estimation around 45 - 5o years that they eally grow big and impressive,

the bull of 66 pounds that we hunted this year, was old, and the head enormous, without a doubt including the 2 tusks, easy 800 900 pounds, and I was thinking even more, as it took a lot of strain on the winch,

And I know this is no scientific match, the creaking and the effort of the winch too loaf the skull , even cracked the mapoane we were using, sounded the same as when pulling a huge eland bull up, ant they weigh over 1200 pounds.

Back in camp, the stand that we hang our crocs on, which weigh in excess of 750 pounds, broke when the ellie skull ws lifted, and that was one thick piece of mopane.

SO yes I think it was highly possible,

The interesting thing is the elephant out of Damaraland, Kaokoveld, hence also known as Desert elephant have been found too be taller than their forest dwelling brothers, maybe due too walking longer distances too feed,

the same with Kalahari lions they also stand taller at the shoulder than their bush brothers

https://naturalhistory.si.edu/exhibits/elephant/


Link has a video when the elephant was first being prepared for display from the 1950s and photos of the preparation for the new display.

https://vimeo.com/98818700

This may a more workable link for Jeff's monster elephant.

Thanks for posting.

I have seen huge elephants in Namibia's Etosha National Park ... big as houses ...

Have looked up at that elephant many, many times. Awesome bull.

Thanks for the great post and information.

Amazing animals. It is a few years since I have been in elephant country in India or Africa.

A few comments from me

1. The really BIG bulls appear to have a much larger head. The proportion of the head to body seems on a different scale to the lesser bulls. I wonder if this is an accurate observation of if the big bulls with big ears give that illusion.
2. In India the biggest bulls are the TUSK LESS Makhnas. I have heard of Indian Makhna bulls going 11 feet tall which is enormous for an Indian elephant where a 10 ft bull is consider phenomenal. Makhnas are also known to be far more aggressive and have a much more muscular trunk base - They just look different (in photos) This is interesting - See how much bigger the Makhna is while the tusker is not small at all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUakEX6KBTM

Another Makhna bull has a HUGE base to the trunk - http://farm4.staticflickr.com/...16316_101cd14938.jpg
3. I wonder if African tuskless bulls are similar in big body and very thick trunk?

Interesting the SI link is no longer working. I wonder if they got a bunch of flak from bunny huggers.

I've been considering a non-trophy or tuskless hunt but I'm only interested in a big bodied elephant. Too many tuskless that I've seen look barely bigger than a large horse. I know that's an exaggeration but on the ground a lot of them look very small to me.

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
Yes, It seems Chobie is the heartland for giant Elephant.With Wankie to the east, Angola to the north, Namibia to the west and Okavango to the south.
If you look a the Cuito River via Google Earth. you will see that it is very sparse human activity. So hopefully one day this will again be another great Safari destination.

Adam's post I've quoted is from 2009. None the less, he's correct. I killed a nice Elephant in Botswana NG41. It bordered Chobe park. The Elephants there were a whole different level. TOWERING far far about the Valley bulls I've seen.

Walking into a group of big Botswana bulls is an amazing thing.

I have seen the bull. Did not know the story.

The two things that impressed me most in the SI. This bull and a Bengal tiger that was mounted.

The biggest body bulls in a hunting area or in the Nyae Nyae in Namibia. I've posted two reports and Nickh has posted one on hunts in this area. We both have tracked bulls with a 27" track, measured with a tape.



This pic shows mud that was rubbed on a tree, the dark marks. I'm 6' so you can get a idea on how big these bulls are.



The heads on these bulls are ENORMOUS.

Nyae Nyae bull elephant raffle
https://www.tsumeb-gimnasium.c...hant-hunt-in-namibia

For those of you who wish to see a really big LIVE Jumbo, look no further than the World Famous Erindi in Namibia. You will see from the lodge 80 and 90 lb a side Jumbo, and on a game drive you may find one of the three really big ones! Check out last yers posts here on AR on the Khaudum Gambit... True Giants of Africa!

Not to hijack this great thread but heard Erindi is on the market. Wonderful opportunity to protect that gene pool with all the poaching and general decline at Etosha.