Circus Animal. Born in the wild of the French Sudan. Jumbo's life began with his mother being killed and infant Jumbo being captured by elephant hunter Taher Sheriff. Baby Jumbo was sold to an Italian animal dealer and arrived with other captured animals in Europe. Soon after, he was imported to France and kept in the Paris zoo; there, Jumbo was neglected due to a more popular elephant pair, Castor and Pollux. In June of 1865, Jumbo was shipped to England and was in poor physical condition. He was ill, dirty, and emaciated from maltreatment. Between 1865 and 1867, Jumbo was nursed back to health by his trainer Matthew Scott, aka 'Scotty.' It was at this point that Jumbo was named. Jumbo was small upon arrival, but he continued to grow, reaching dimensions of 12 feet in height, 14 feet in length, 18 feet around, and seven tons. He became a popular fixture at the Zoological Gardens. He began giving rides to children. This was the start of the zoo's most popular activity. Jumbo was sold in November 1881 to the Barnum & Bailey Circus, finally reaching New York in April of 1882. Barnum exhibited the elephant at Madison Square Garden. He was transported across the United States with the circus in his own train car called 'Jumbo's Palace Car.' In September of 1885, Jumbo died at a railway classification yard in Canada in St. Thomas, Ontario, where he was hit and fatally wounded by a locomotive. Jumbo was walking on the tracks to get to his Palace train car to be loaded.

His mounted skin was given to Tufts College. From the turn of the twentieth century until 1969, the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, New York held an exhibition in its Hall of the Biology of Mammals featuring the eleven-foot tall skeleton of Jumbo, including a large circus poster, calliope, and band music, along with other memorabilia and scientific information. Another exhibition at this museum featuring Jumbo was held in 1993.