1930 above, 1933 below.
The elephant above is Paulina. I find it interesting that the head piece she is wearing has the cheek drops on it. The style was not very common in the United States but was very common in Europe, particularly on the Hagenbeck Circus elephants. Does anyone know if she came from Hagenbeck? As the family Hagenbeck was instrumental in building the Detroit zoo, it would make sense.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Vintage Detroit Zoo Elephant Ride
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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2 comments:
I would think the date of 1933 would be way late to be from Hagenbeck. But I am not an expert.
Anonymous,
The Detroit Zoological Commission was created in 1924, and the City of Detroit took on the financial responsibility for the zoo when no other public entity, county or state, would.
The commission hired Heinrich Hagenbeck from the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany, as an advisor.
The headpiece made me think it was a Hagenbeck elephant. I research further and found the information above. I checked the elephant data base and found two elephants Aneta and Paulina bought from Hagenbeck in 1928, with Aneta dying in 1943, and Paulina dying in 1950.
The North American Regional Studbook for the Asian Elephants lists this location only as 'Hagenbeck,' located in Hamburg. Presumably this is Circus Carl Hagenbeck, run by Lorenz Hagenbeck.
Now we are both one step closer to being "experts."
Wade
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