List of fictional elephants

This list of fictional elephants is a subsidiary to the List of fictional ungulates. Characters from various fictional works are organized by medium. General information on the topic can be found at Cultural depictions of elephants. Non-fictional elephants are listed at List of individual elephants.

This list also includes extinct mammals such as woolly mammoths, mastodons, etc.

Literature

Name Species Author Work Notes
Babar Elephant Jean de Brunhoff Babar the Elephant An elephant king.[1]
Hathi Asian elephant Rudyard Kipling The Jungle Book Head of the jungle elephant troop; featured in several adventures with the boy, Mowgli.
Horton Elephant Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who! A fictional character from the books Horton Hatches the Egg and Horton Hears a Who!, both by Dr. Seuss.
Kabumpo Elephant Ruth Thompson Kabumpo in Oz Also known as the Elegant Elephant of Pumperdink he was originally a christening gift to the king of Pumperdink, Pompus.[2]
Kala Nag Asian elephant Rudyard Kipling "Toomai of the Elephants" "Legendary seventy-year old" elephant[3] and "best friend" of titular boy mahout Toomai,[4] Kala Nag was characterized by film historian Richard Meran Barsam as wise, fearless and well-travelled, and attested a "strong personality" typical for Kipling's animal characters.[3] Kala Nag had already been the elephant of Toomai's family for generations, which reasearcher in colonial studies Jeannine Woods, talking about the movie version named Elephant Boy from 1937, saw as an image for "the timeless, unchanging nature of primitive society and tradition." She also compared the relationship of Kala Nag to Toomai with that of the boy and his English paternal figure Peterson, with the formers' talents being guided to fruition by the well-meaning colonizer.[4]
Pellefant Toy elephant Rune Andréasson Pellefant books and comics A small blue toy elephant created by Swedish cartoonist Rune Andréasson, first published 1954.
Tantor African elephant Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan

Mythology

Name Species Origin Notes
Airavata Elephant Indian mythology The creator of clouds.
Ganesha Elephant God Indian mythology A god with human body, four arms and an elephant's head.
Gajendra Elephant God Indian mythology An elephant who was attacked by a crocodile and eventually saved by Vishnu.
Supratika One of eight elephants who bears the world Indian mythology Supratika represents the northeast direction of the world.
Vinayaki Elephant-headed Hindu Goddess Indian mythology An elephant-headed goddess about whom little is known but is thought to be a feminine avatar of Ganesha.

Visual Media

Television

Name Species Origin Notes
Mr. Snuffleupagus Snuffleupagus Sesame Street Big Bird's once thought imaginary friend.

Animation

Name Species Origin Notes
Elmer Elephant Elephant Silly Symphonies Disney cartoon short. (Not to be confused with Elmer the Patchwork Elephant)

Other

  • Ellie the Elephant, Mascot for the WNBA Basketball team the NY Liberty
  • Nellie the Elephant, a children’s song about the eponymous elephant
  • Welephant, a red elephant cartoon character with a fireman's helmet; icon for promoting fire safety to children, and mascot for the Children's Burn Trust.

Works named after fictional elephants

Some of these works have alternative titles that do not mention the fictional elephant(s).

Title Medium Author/Creator/Producer Year Notes
Bump Animation Charles Mills, Terry Brain 1990
CJ's Elephant Antics Video game Genesis, Big Red (Spectrum) 1991
Dumbo Film Walt Disney 1941
The Elephant's Journey Novel José Saramago 2008
Ella the Elephant Animation Carmela D'Amico and Steven D'Amico 2013 A Canadian animated preschool television series about a jolly young elephant who wears a big red hat and a blue criss-cross dress.
Elmer the Elephant TV series John Conrad 1951
Elmer the Patchwork Elephant Book series David McKee 1968
Goliath II Film Walt Disney 1960
Khan Kluay Film Aummaraporn Phandintong 2006
Rolo to the Rescue Video game Vectordean 1993
Tembo the Badass Elephant Video game Game Freak 2015
Thunder: An Elephant's Journey Book series Erik Daniel Shein, L. M. Reker 2016
Whispers: An Elephant's Tale Film Beverly Joubert, Dereck Joubert 2000
Zenobia Film Gordon Douglas, Corey Ford 1939

See also

Notes

References
  1. ^ "Jean de Brunhoff".
  2. ^ Jack Snow, Who's Who in Oz, Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1954; New York, Peter Bedrick Books, 1988; p. 115.
  3. ^ a b Barsam, Richard Meran (1988). The Vision of Robert Flaherty: The Artist as Myth and Filmmaker. Indiana University Press. p. 75. ISBN 9780253320742.
  4. ^ a b Woods, Jeannine (2011). Visions of Empire and Other Imaginings: Cinema, Ireland and India 1910-1962. Peter Lang. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9783039119745.