# Hannibal's Elephants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606 "2004-11-13T22:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blackacre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@Blackacre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackacre)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/1 "2004-11-13T22:04:58Z")
Might be a dumb question, but for the most part have all War Elephants been Asian? I caught a blurb the other day on some show about failed attempts to use African elephants for same. If War Elephants were predominately Asian then, how did Hannibal get any? Back then did the Asian elephants’ range extend pretty close to north Africa or did he import them? Any info would be appreciated. ;j Cheers! BA ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/2 "2004-11-13T23:25:54Z")
According to [[http://www.unep-wcmc.org/species/data/species\_sheets/indeleph.htm~main](http://www.unep-wcmc.org/species/data/species_sheets/indeleph.htm~main)]this]([http://www.unep-wcmc.org/index.html?[url](http://www.unep-wcmc.org/index.html?%5Burl)) page on the World Conservation Monitoring Centre site: > [@](#): > > **PREVIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD** From Syria and Iraq east across Asia south of the Himalayas to Indochina and the Malay Peninsula, north in China, and in Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Borneo and possibly Java. Syria and Iraq would be considered “pretty close” to North Africa these days, might be close enough for Hannibal to have obtained Asian elephants without too much difficulty. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/3 "2004-11-13T23:30:27Z")
[Fixed link](http://www.unep-wcmc.org/species/data/species_sheets/indeleph.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/4 "2004-11-13T23:33:02Z")
There’s a lot of debate about exactly what species of Elephant Hannibal actually used. The idea that he used Asiatic Elephans is very much aminority one and without much support. The most likely explanation is that he used a North African elephants, a species that was later exterminated to feed the colloseums of Rome. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/5 "2004-11-13T23:39:00Z")
It is likely Hannibal had both African forest elephants and Asian elephants, but not African savannah elephants. African forest elephants and African savannah elephants used to be considered varieties of the same species, but I believe they are now usually classed as separate species. The savannah elephant is _Loxodonta africana_ and the smaller forest elephant is _L. cyclotis_. According to some references I’ve seen, in Hannibal’s time, the forest elephant roamed wild in North Africa, but now they are confined to Sub-Saharan Africa. These forest elephants apparently constituted the bulk of Carthage’s elephants. The Asian species is _Elephas maximus_. In ancient times it was found wild as far west as Syria. The Egyptians occasionally captured or imported elephants (and their trainers) from Syria. The Carthaginians may have bought some or received some as gifts from the Egyptians. The best evidence that at least some Syrian elephants were used in Hannibal’s Italian campaign was the name of the last surviver among the elephants that crossed the Alps with Hannibal in the first wave. The name was “Surus” which means “the Syrian”. By the way, Hannibal was not the first general to use elephants in Italy. The Greek invader Pyrrhus used the Asian species there about 60 years before Hannibal. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/6 "2004-11-13T23:47:03Z")
There’s still a lot of debate about hwthere the North African elephant was the same species as the forest elephant. Evidence suggests that it was in fact a ofurth and now extinct species of elephant. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibals-elephants/274606/7 "2004-11-13T23:52:28Z")
> [@Blackacre](#): > > Might be a dumb question, but for the most part have all War Elephants been Asian? I caught a blurb the other day on some show about failed attempts to use African elephants for same. If War Elephants were predominately Asian then, how did Hannibal get any? Back then did the Asian elephants’ range extend pretty close to north Africa or did he import them? Any info would be appreciated. ;j > Cheers! BA Presumably African elephants. [Habbibals Elephants](http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/basics.htm)