Nelly
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Budapest Zoo in Hungary

Biography

☨ ♀ Nelly

Identification

EEP nr	1202

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 13 years old
Origin
Born:	* 1909 wild
Birth place:	in Asia unspecified location
Capture:	1911?
Imported:	1912? by Unknown
Death
Dead:	†1922-10-01
Death location:	Budapest Zoo
Death reason:	disease: Infection, rheumatoid arthritis
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Budapest Zoo, in Hungary

Date of arrival

1913-00-00	Budapest Zoo from Capital Circus of Budapest (Beketow)

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-18: 2025-03-20:

Latest document update	2021-09-16 15:22:00
Google map

† Nelly is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1922-10-01 at Budapest Zoo, in Hungary, . Official death reason described as Infection, rheumatoid arthritis.

Origin

Nelly was born wild 1909 at Asia unspecified location, captured 1911? . and imported 1912? by Unknown

Comments / pictures

Records about Nelly from EEPEuropean Studbook for Asian elephants state following records for the asian elephant Nelly:

1202 F ~ 1909 WILD WILD WILD ~ 1911 NONE Capture Nelly
BUDAPEST 1 Mar 1912 001534 Transfer
1 Oct 1922 Death

Source: EEP studbook for Asian elephants online

The most interesting elephant story of the era is related to the "footache" Nelly.

In 1913, Mátyás Beketow, the director of the Beketow Circus in the neighborhood of the Zoo, donated a three-year-old elephant to the garden because the animal could not be taught circus stunts due to its foot pain. Our veterinarian, Emil Raitsits, examined the young elephant and found him to have rheumatoid Arthritis. Spa seemed to be the best solution for the treatment, but they could not accommodate such a large guest in the nearby Széchenyi Bath. Nelly therefore traveled to Hévíz in 1914 with her caregiver to cure her aching leg. The thermal water and medicinal mud also brought the desired result in two months.

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Nelly, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Budapest Zoo in Hungary. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 30 March 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=553. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

https://zoobudapest.com/ezt-latnod-kell/hirek/155-ev-elefantjai-1

Litterature about Budapest Zoo

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Links

Relevant links

Internal relevant links

List of all recorded elephants in: European studbook for Asian elephants
More elephants from: Budapest Zoo
More elephants from: Hungary
More elephants that was born: 1909
More elephants that was captured: 1911?
More elephants that was imported: 1912?
More elephants that died: 1922-10-01
All breeding cows
All breeding bulls
The elephant database startpage. Statistics
List of all captive born elephants in the database

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