Pouquois
African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) at
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in United States

Biography
dead elephant ☨ ♀ Pouquois  dead elephant
© Buckles Woodcock
© Buckles Woodcock

Alternative name: Puqua

Identification


Description
Species:African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
Sex and age:Female ♀ 5 years old
Origin
Born:* 1936 wild
Birth place: in Congo unspecified forest
Capture: 1936
Imported:1936
Freight:by ship
Death
Dead: 1941-11-05
Death reason: killed: poison
Locations - owners
Present / last location:Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in United States

Date of arrival

1936-00-00Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
from New York Harbour

1936-00-00New York Harbour
from Alexandria Port

1936-00-00Alexandria Port
from Port of Juba

1936-00-00Port of Juba
from Howard Y. Bary

1936-00-00Howard Y. Bary
from Gangala-na-Bodio Elephant Domestication Center

Record history
History of updates2023-04-29

Latest document update2025-02-24 04:03:45

† Pouquois is a dead Female ♀ African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), , who died 1941-11-05 at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in United States, . Official death reason described as poison.

Origin

Pouquois was born wild 1936 at Congo unspecified forest, captured 1936 . and imported 1936, by ship


Comments / pictures

"These so-called pygmy elephants were obtained by Howard Bary around the end of 1935 or early in 1936.
He got them for RBBB from the elephant training station at Gangala na bodio in the eastern Belgian Congo (now Dem. Republic of Congo). This litho shows the number of elephants (5) that he took out of the Congo. It was an arduous journey involving an overland trek from Gangala to Juba, Sudan on the Nile, then down the Nile to Alexandria and thence by ocean vessel from there. Two of the elephants died en route.
Three arrived in New York for the opening in the Garden in 1936. They were a male Congo, female Pouquois (Puqua) and another female Sudan. The first two were genuine forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) with the straight down tusks, typical of that Species (It is now classified as a separate Species instead of a jungle version of the big bush elephants).
The third one, Sudan, was a bush elephant and later photos of her show the physical features of that Species as contrasted to the forest elephants. She lived the longest dying in Sarasota at the end of 1947 (There are some rumors that she was killed). Congo had died in Sarasota in early 1937 and Puqua died in Atlanta in November 1941 in the infamous elephant poisoning incident."

Richard Reynolds

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Pouquois, African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) located at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 29 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=2357. (archived at the Wayback machine)


Sources used for this article is among others:


Litterature about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

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Categories1941 deaths | 1936 births | Born in Congo | 1936 captures | 1936 imports | Elephants from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus | United States | African forest elephants




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