A Giant African Elephant and the Truth About "Jumbo"

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In this video:
The word “jumbo” can roughly be understood to mean “a large specimen of its kind” and it’s often posited that the word entered the English language thanks to an elephant. While this is certainly a nice story, the truth is a little more complicated.
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[@CanadianCuttingEdge]

I grew up not many miles from where Jumbo died. They still have a HUGE statue to him there, in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.

[@sylkates]

Elephants are very social and loving towards one another - sort of like dogs. I could see the stories of the bond between the trainer and Jumbo being true.

[@neutronpixie6106]

That moment you realize "slang" is just slang for "Short Language"

[@MadamFoogie]

Damn. Now I have to scrape brains off the ceiling, because that just blew my mind.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Or that "orgasm" is short for "organ spasm."

[@tjwebb7428]

Oh. My. God.

[@Kibaoftheleaves]

I thought it was 'street language'

[@gehtdichnichtsan5211]

@@LiLi-or2gm I don't think it is. Couldn't find anything confirming this

[@angelwhispers2060]

Despite the elephants relatively short time in England I can't help but think that that is literally the most English thing an animal has ever done by putting its trainer on the floor to remind him that he's failed to give the animal it's share of the beer.

[@Grenadier_]

and that was one of the most depressing deaths of an elephant I've heard in the span of 5 months

[@KimberlyGreen]

The description of Jumbo's death is heartbreaking. :-(

[@Michaeljack81sk]

His life was pretty heartbreaking too...

[@nomad5544]

I am a bit curious just what led up to an elephant getting hit by a train, though. How does that even happen? Especially considering it was a gigantic elephant, I'm just curious as to how all the things lined up for that to happen.

[@K.L.Stella]

@@nomad5544 Poor Jumbo died in St. Thomas, Ontario. We even have a statue in his memory in town. Local legend states that he was getting loaded onto a train when he got spooked. Sadly the opposite door of the train was opened, and he ran right through onto the tracks. It just so happened a train was coming from the opposite direction and hit him :(

[@glitterbrains69]

@@K.L.Stella aw man! That's terrible, poor guy :(

[@nomad5544]

@@K.L.Stella That's actually very tragic, such a sad waste of life, especially considering what a gentle animal Jumbo was.

[@sophiewilliams7582]

"Oi! Wake up! Beer me!"

[@MjikThize]

I grew up in St. Thomas Ontario Canada, the city where Jumbo was killed. The city still has a life size statue of Jumbo on top of the hill overlooking HWY 4.

[@wordforger]

... Dude! You just pass over two elephants getting eaten in a Paris siege?! Man, that was a lucky escape for Jumbo! But now I want to know more about that... And now I am literally in tears over what happened to Jumbo. Thanks a lot.

[@Pfisiar22]

France went to war with Prussia and the other German states over what was basically an intentionally poorly worded telegram where it looked like the French insulted the Kaiser and vice versa(Thanks Bismark, you manipulative genius you). Anyways, General Moltke, uncle to the notorious Moltke who would disastrously lead Germany into WWI, understood modern war techniques due to carefully learning everything he could from the US Civil War. Germans were able to much more quickly deploy troops, supply those troops, and reinforce those troops than the French. This resulted in the French losing several major battles ending with the capture of Napoleon III. Afterwards, Moltke lay seige to Paris when it became clear that the French didn't have much of a government left after Napoleon III surrendered. The siege was very cruel and damaging to Paris. And yeah, the zoo animals were slaughtered for food during the siege. Incidentally, this humiliating loss was highly motivational leading up to World War I. So yeah.

[@debbiedennis5269]

Jumbo the Elephant is Tufts University's Official Mascot. From the Tufts University website: "The tale of Tufts' official mascot, Jumbo the elephant dates back to 1885. Circus showman P.T. Barnum was an early trustee and benefactor of Tufts and he donated the stuffed hide of Jumbo to the university. For 86 years, Jumbo stood in Barnum Hall and was a veritable mecca on campus. Students, parents and other campus visitors would pop pennies in his trunk or give a tug on his tail to bring luck for an upcoming exam or athletic competition. Jumbo mania came to a fiery end on April 14, 1975, when Barnum Hall and the beloved elephant were consumed in an electrical fire. Jumbo's spirit lives on. Some of his ashes were recovered in a peanut butter jar that has remained in the athletics director’s office where students continue to rub it for good luck."

[@odolwa099]

Morbid.

[@lilayogaom]

😱 omg that moment when Simon says Jumbo was dragged by a train 💔💔💔

[@skilledwarman]

How the hell did PT Barnum manage to suck SO BADLY at keeping his animals alive?

[@HunterHerne]

Because PT Barnum was just a greedy man looking to make oddities into riches. Also: In the case of Jumbo, he got hit by a train. Which derailed when it hit Jumbo. And Jumbo, if he was one to gloat about such feats, survived long enough to assert his dominance over the machine before succumbing to death, peacefully, with his handler holding his trunk.

[@grapeshot]

I don't think him or the people around him knew a thing about zoology.

[@jaydunbar7538]

@@HunterHerne it's not just greed, it's stupidity. Smart greedy people protect their investments, you don't make money by having to replace all of your assets.

[@augustuswayne9676]

This is a very beautiful story . If all humans and animal relationship could be so heart warming .

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

I always thought it was just a bad pronunciation of the Swahili greeting "Jambo!" After all Jumbo was an African Elephant.

[@christinebrown3359]

FYI, there is a sculpture of Jumbo in the city of St. Thomas, Ontario Canada which is the city where Jumbo died in a railroad accident.

[@tysonclark5974]

Live near there!

[@christinebrown3359]

@@tysonclark5974 me too!

[@tamraarmstrong1808]

Did he break loose or something? what exactly happened?

[@devilin100]

@@tamraarmstrong1808 The folktale around these parts is he pushed a smaller younger elephant out of the way of a moving train. My understanding of the facts published in a "research paper" about it I read about a decade ago is that, Our city somehow managed to run an elephant over with a train that wasn't moving. But then again every time me and my work crew pass one of the Welcome to ST Thomas signs I do my best Call of Duty voice "40 000 People used to live here... Now it's a methtown."

[@Hogmagundy]

I was born in that town

[@kalvenjamieson]

i see what you did there , the video length is 747 😄😄😄 love it

[@darreljones8645]

Another little-known fact: The original name of Dumbo, Disney's big-eared flying elephant, was Jumbo Jr. "Dumbo" came along because they thought the big ears made him look stupid.

[@beastmaster0934]

I always hated those other elephants, tearing Dumbo like garbage just because of how he looked. Especially the matriarch (the one in the purple outfit), she was the worst of them all, that old hag.

[@ronallan8680]

Mambo Jambo is my language, Swahili. It means " All's well" (Ey ok)

[@micahphilson]

That's a much better meaning than "gibberish". Kinda sad it came to mean something you can't understand, it really does sound more like an "It's all good!" kind of phrase!.

[@glitterbrains69]

Really? That's cool, African languages are super interesting. Cheers!

[@ronallan8680]

@@micahphilson Haha! Yeah. Well to someone landing on a foreign continent, hearing all this Mambo Jambo, it would be a bit dizzying 😄 It's how I feel about Swedish and Finnish right now

[@DeathbyPixels]

If there is an afterlife, may Jumbo be having a good one.

[@Taikamuna]

I love the way he says jumbo

[@shaggycan]

I'm from St Thomas, where Jumbo was hit. We learned all about it in history class in 1985, the 100th anniversary. There we're also specially minted jumbo coins you could use only in St Thomas. He was killed on ancestors of mine's property.

[@NeanderthalJoe]

I'm in London just 15 mins away

[@sailingsolar]

Your ancestors owned a railroad?

[@NeanderthalJoe]

My grandmother has original pictures from when he was hit by the train. I also live 2 mins away from jumbo. In St. Thomas Ontario

[@micahphilson]

4:33 There's a slang word for that, too. It's called an Urban Dictionary.

[@Chantwizzle]

Anyone else here from St.Thomas? We've got a life sized statue of him that sits at the city entrance like a trophy of his death.

[@sailingsolar]

Left out was the mention of where are jumbo can be found now.

[@thecreature7608]

Recently watched David Attenborough's documentary about this guy and his tragic story so it will be interesting to see if the facts line up. 😁 If they don't I will trust attenborough's facts above yours. No offence of course, but like, it's David Attenborough. While i think enough has been said with just that I will also add that he is awesome and I love his documentaries so much and he is the best.😁

[@calichef1962]

Even we crude and uncultured Americans LOVE Sir David! He's a fantastic narrator and I even love it when he goes into the wild and interacts with the animals, in spite of it clearly being staged for the ease and convenience of an elderly gentleman. He's kind of like the world's kindly, scholarly grandfather.

[@mindseyemelodies]

I don't live far from the spot Jumbo died. St. Thomas Ontario.

[@xspatanx117x]

The factfiend video on this is awesome and more expansive on Jumbo

[@santhoshsurya72]

Th word jumbo..JUMBU means LARGE ,India is also called Jambu dweepa(land where large gooseberries grow).u can find the references in hindu religious texts.english scholars during british rule might have taken the word from those texts.

[@TheKaz911]

The west has stolen so much from the east and never acknowledge it, it's ironic cause in the Kiswahili language (spoken in East Africa where the elephant was found) it means hello and is spelt Jambo

[@redacted4033]

How is that the first African elephant to set foot in Europe? Were Hannibal’s elephants not African?

[@badugm5035]

North African elephant, was a different species.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

@@badugm5035 actually, North African elephants are a distinct extinct subspecies or species that is closely related to that of their sub Saharan Savannah and forest counterparts.

[@baoyouming]

Thank you Mr. Smallwood.

[@topshelf3554]

How could the English zoo be concerned about Jumbo entering musth when this was only identified to occur in African elephants by Cynthia Moss, circa 1980? While a known condition for Asian elephants for much longer, this wasn't the case for African elephants.

[@RBickersjr]

I'd love to see a movie based on that elephant's life.

[@oskarrmason9617]

So Jumbo was lucky that he didn't get eaten by Prussians.

[@oyasuminerd]

surprised you didnt mention that statue of him in st.thomas

[@macsnafu]

You call Daven your "occasional" cohost. I only recall seeing one video with both of you in it (and quite funny at that). It would be nice to see both of you in more videos. You could alternate between different sections, or come up with some kind of question and answer routine.

[@philthytanks4952]

0:48 I don’t know why but whatever he’s doing with his hands has me laughing my ass off

[@RBickersjr]

Air keyboard.

[@knurdarcanix]

Thanks, Karl! Thank you, Simon. :3

[@tonygreene81able]

This episode while very good. Simon you're always good my dude, but this was like different topics brought together. Wtf? Did I miss something? Is this a new show?

[@JeffinBville]

You managed to get a 'beer' reference in on one of Smalwood's scripts. That's a compromise.

[@pikeman80]

There;s a huge statue and monument on the edge of St. Thomas. He had gone out for his daily morning walk

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

A beer drinking elephant...cheers to that!

[@PaladinDusty]

Were there ever perfectly spherical pills like in old Disney shorts?

[@Felaura]

Do an episode on where "SHORT SHRIFT" came from! =D =D

[@williamoldaker5348]

I wanna treat some people like they treat wildlife.

[@nickstav08]

Though jumbo's care taker loved jumbo and they would even have pints of beer together before they went to sleep, once when the caretaker fell asleep jumbo picked him up into a chair to remind him of their beer together. Jumbo even got extremely upset when ever the care taker took some time off

[@johnspera8369]

amazing that they "shared" a beer! LOL think Jumbo could have knocked one off himself! LOL

[@beastmaster0934]

Fun Fact: Elephants apparently have a low alcohol tolerance. Even lower than humans.

[@tristissimvshominvm8999]

Simon, I have a question: Where is, or who currently owns the title of heir to the throne of the Roman Empire? The question might sound somewhat put of place but the title was passed around after the fall of Constantinople.

[@schliemanndefense4613]

You should tag team with Susie Dent for her expertise on the derivation of words. That would be the bees knees. :)

[@MadamFoogie]

Aw. I confused Jumbo for Topsy and thought I'd get a really graphic story. Talk about Edison and Topsy! EDIT: I guess it was pretty graphic after all. Who the hell parks an elephant on train tracks??

[@JoeyRocket]

There is an additional anecdote (Barnum era, so HUGE pinch of salt): after Jumbo's body was pulled from the train tracks by 160 men, Matthew Scott climbed atop his dead friend and fell asleep.

[@AsianJunki]

He left out some more deets. His skeleton was sold to the natural history museum where u can visit him sonetimes if on display and skin/tail/whiskers sold too elsewhere. Tho there was a fire. His skin is now in a jar of ashes still being preserved today. His heart was sold too at a university. Only the empty container with the label remains today.

[@Ohmu721]

Jumbo look out for the train!! oh no he's wearing airpods he can't hear us oh god

[@-carina-]

Beers with the broskis is nothing compared to beer with an elephant.

[@MadamFoogie]

Agreed, but that cheap bastard only gave Jumbo half a beer. What's a two-ton animal going to do with that?? Give him a keg, that would be a more approximate size.

[@theangelbelow88]

It's probably just an act to show that he cared about him. Like when a parent give a piece of candy to their child and not a whole bag.

[@kennethconklin4140]

Did anyone catch that the other two elephants, he mentioned, had the names "Castor" and "Pollux"? The names of the brothers in Face/Off.

[@MadamFoogie]

Great Now I have the mental picture of Nick Cage and John Travolta versions of elephants.

[@kennethconklin4140]

@@MadamFoogie haha! Hows this? Imagine one elephant in the iconic scene saying "I want to take his face...OFF!" and swings his trunk in the air.

[@MadamFoogie]

@@kennethconklin4140-Beautiful! But I prefer the image of Nick Cage Elephant goosing the choir girl with his trunk and making that crazy bug-eyed orgasmic face while trumpeting over the sound of everyone singing Hallelujah.

[@SwampGas703]

out of all the places that Jumbo could have been, why did it have to be on the tracks of an on coming train?!?!

[@cmdrterrorfirma4244]

Beer drinking elephant... LOL

[@jaydunbar7538]

Cows and horses also like beer, it may sound weird but it's not surprising for a herbivore to like beer and wine.

[@collectingonthecheap56353]

When a book included the description in it's title.

[@Sanguine_Rev]

This article was written by Karl Smallwood of the fact fiend Channel

[@Taikamuna]

_Look they made the elephant from dumbo into a real thing!_

[@wheelzwheela]

He was named Jumbo because it sounded like the word for "hello" in the African language spoken where he was captured.

[@plinkitee]

I've a feeling that title was longer than the book itself.

[@ElaMongrella]

An episode on Topsy, the elephant who was electrocuted, would be interesting as well.

[@Diecastclassicist]

Students and alumni of Tufts University know a final chapter in the elephant’s story, involving a fire, a tail, and a college superstition.

[@mrnickbig1]

Like your other videos, you get many points wrong! The main problem is that "Jumbo's" name actually was "Jambo", which is a friendly greeting in Swahili, the language of East Africa, where he was born.

[@qtipmotha]

First African elephant specimen that had set foot in Europe? Hannibal Barca would beg to differ.

[@bibospice2001]

my heart poor jumbo

[@whyamihere2581]

What a title, that book

[@Peecamarke]

Wait you never explain how he got hit by a train. That sounds like the most interesting bit of this story. What was he doing on train tracks and how'd he get hit??

[@Chantwizzle]

He was supposedly pushing a smaller elephant out of the way. I'm from the town that killed him, and that's one of the stories I heard growing up.

[@tjwebb7428]

Whelp, now I want an elephant. Thanks, TIFO.

[@pitchman3]

Just out of curiosity, did the name for the Elephant movie/Cartoon "Dumbo" come FROM the real life Elephant Jumbo?

[@Misclip]

Came here because I saw Jumbo. I haven't watched yet. But I am from St.Thomas, Ontario and if my city isn't mentioned we are gonna have words Simon. I tell you, words! Edit: WORDS. SO MANY GOD DAMN WORDS. YOU DIDN'T EVEN GET INTO THE FOLKLORE.

[@MegaZayd1]

I see carl sold another article, go carl!

[@porko882]

Wasn't Jumbo Dumbos mother in the movie?

[@farazsk1]

I would definitely watch a movie on the life of jumbo, Disney are you listening?

[@the3nder1]

I think they did one already. Jumbo Airlift or something like that.

[@glitterbrains69]

Well, they've done so. In like the 40s or 50s. Hes got big ears and he likes to fly. Horton hears a who dumby

[@niteshades_promise]

at least edison didnt get a hold of him🍻

[@bttawfiq]

So... why Boeing’s 747 is called the “Jumbo Jet”?

[@whatsinanameish]

Rum-ones? That is a term that needs a comeback.

[@whyamihere2581]

What are you going on about? I think the word is “wumbo”

[@leifewald5117]

Nukacola004 that’s because you got it set to M for Mini, when it should be set to W for Wumbo come on, I wumbo, you wumbo, he she me wumbo,

[@Clauds1005]

16dublin Leif he/she wumbo, The study of wumbology its first grade spongebob

[@micahphilson]

XxYorWrstNigtmre, Wumbology is the study of Wumbo. The study of Wumbology would be... Wumbologyology?

[@Clauds1005]

Micah Philson nerd 🤓

[@annipsy2185]

I thought its Dumbo

[@winkwink6478]

I love your research. IT'S HUGE! 😁

[@meggiem4685]

Another bonus fact: Dumbo’s original name was Jumbo Jr!

[@owencrowey7180]

it would be cool to see a video on the elephant in the downie bros 3 ring circus its buried under a house in medina NY

[@benpollard7256]

Jambo is a greeting in Swahili

[@gaeshows1938]

coco jumbo

[@Kush_328]

The report is not real. The person who hunted this elephant is my grandfather, Tahir Sharif. He is a skilled hunter of predatory animals in eastern Sudan, specifically in the current Setite region, which has borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea. All the tribe was engaged in hunting predatory animals. The Hamran tribe was famous for hunting predatory animals with the sword And circus Samuel Baker White talked about them in his book Tributaries of the Nile Abyssinia and the sword hunters from the Arabs of Hamran in his trip in 1961. He spent nearly two years with our people at that time. A jungle area that no one can enter

[@Werevampiwolf]

Bruh, that's not a title, it's an abstract. Also, the origin of Jumbo's name that I always heard was that it was a misspelling of "Jambo, which means hello in Swahili

[@Erin-Thor]

Simon! You just CAN’T mention Jumbo the Elephant without mentioning Dumbo! Not relevant... just sayin’ 😁

[@siniecelair6003]

upset you didnt mention where he was killled,. my hiome town of st. thomas ont.

[@jamesagwe2981]

Next do Mary the elephant

[@bop3752]

Where does ‘say cheese!’ come from?

[@fpanch0]

Do a collaboration with Mr. Smallwood?

[@macumbeiro_xx]

But did he fly with his ears?

[@dieterboonen3012]

nice watch

[@Msdevanonly]

Poor thing.

[@danacampbell8331]

What was he doing on train tracks?

[@billsandford3901]

That’s what happens when you let the Welch name things.

[@MarvelX42]

Shade thrown at Fact Fiend?

[@KneeDeepInTheDead81]

Whistley boi!

[@geraki3117]

Why July and August has 31 days

[@OwenHeath]

Oh yeah yeah

[@Zadkiel343]

Couldn't you have made the video 1 second longer on a video about 'Jumbo' ?