Sunday, May 1, 2011

Elka--Lincoln Park Zoo 1962


A welcoming party for Elka the elephant. Elka was the baby elephant who starred in the movie Hatari. Afterwards she was donated to the Lincoln Park Zoo by Paramount Pictures.

2 comments:

Jim A. said...

I enlarged the photo to see if I recoginized the keeper in back -- only to find it was a poster of John Wayne. Ed Maruska was the Sr. Keeper at the LPZ Children's Zoo at the time. Elka wasn't asked to do much but she was reliable about going to the Sm. Mammal House each night.

Wade G. Burck said...

Jim,
LOL I wondered who was going to note that. If you look just over the elephants eye, and at the "Dukes" elbow there is a silver mark which looks like one of those candy ass golf club elephant hooks/ankus.
Lincoln Park sure did seem to be just a pass through place for baby elephants, much like Brookfield. What became of Elka and do you know how long she stayed at the zoo?
Wade