Hoping to not sound too verbose, I offer that this picture is only an artists fantasy. Given an elephants physique and body structure with it's high narrow spine, short neck and straight shoulders it would be impossible, except as a spontaneous mistake as Buckles and John Milton suggest. Attempted long enough and given it's weight, chances are it would probably cripple the animal permanently. Nobody who has trained animals long enough has not seen an animal do something completely ignorant and spontaneous and thought, "boy, if I could get them to do that on cue, I could make a fortune."(great stories Buckles and Johnny LOL) Buckles says that "someone"(I hope it wasn't Roland Butler) told him they used a trip mechanism to get the elephant started. I bet they had never seen the behavior/trick and were only guessing, and may have been familiar with an elephants physique and weight and figured a mechanism would be needed, rather then admit the behavior wasn't possible. How heavy would the ramp have had to have been to withstand a 5 ton adult or 3 ton mid adult crashing down on it? Trust me, they would have crashed, and crashed hard, IF you were able to apply enough fear/intimidation to somersault them over from a head stand. Eph's skills are speculated on, and may be as wrong as his death. I have seen with my own eyes some great elephant trainers, and have never seen the behavior even attempted. My feeling is, it was nothing more complicated then and "up and over" which had some "circus glitter" added to it when the woodcut was printed. A fabled "Ballyhoo Behavior", if you will.
Wade Burck
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
08 April, 2011 19:41
Has this been done by anybody else, since then?
It sure would take some really sturdy props to make it work, wouldn't it?
I would suspect that this isn't a natural activity for the bull, and it would take a lot of work and trust between the trainer and the bull to make it happen.
10 April, 2011 11:39
I once trained three small elephants for Sid Kellner and one did an exceptionally good head stand.
So good that in fact one day in the practice ring she went completely over forward like the elephant in the drawing.
She rolled rather slowly at first into a sitting position but the centrifugal force resulted in her slamming her jaw on the ground.
Scared Hell out of both of us.
I don't think the somersalt rigging was this simple. I was told there was some sort of trip mechanism to get the elephant started and gunnels on the ramp so she wouldn't roll off to the side while descending.
10 April, 2011 12:23
It would have scared the heck out of me to have that happen too!
Did she have any reluctance doing the trick again, without the roll over?
I can see how the right rig with the gunnels and such to help her roll and keep her from falling off the rig would be the key to this, but I'm sure it was a challenge (and lot's of patience) on trainer and bull to get this to work.
11 April, 2011 22:34
I had the same thing happen when training a head stand. Its awesome baby and I rehashed it like an idiot. I am embarrased to relate. Tanglefoot
12 April, 2011 07:46