JUMBO-SIZE BAG OF BONES MAKES MUSEUM COMEBACK

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993                   TAG: 9301230017
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium
JUMBO-SIZE BAG OF BONES MAKES MUSEUM COMEBACK
He's big, he's bony, and he's back - Jumbo the elephant, once the toast of P.T. Barnum's greatest show on Earth, made his skeletal return Friday for an appreciative crowd at a museum.
Jumbo's towering skeleton, which was donated to the American Museum of Natural History by Barnum in 1887, was back on display there for the first time since 1975. Jumbo will be standing tall through Oct. 31.
"We're bringing him out because, first of all, Jumbo is a special and unique part of our collection," said museum spokeswoman Corinne Lewkowicz. "And it's a way to introduce a whole new generation of people to this legend. Jumbo is a legend."
Jumbo's comeback was celebrated in Barnum style: the ringmaster and clowns from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus were at the museum, along with 60 school kids who got the first look at the 11-foot high elephant bones.
"Aside from the kids, there were adults asking, `Is this really Jumbo?' People remember, or they remember their grandparents told them about Jumbo," said Lewkowicz, who expects the exhibit to be a big hit. A national tour may follow.
Jumbo was captured as a calf in Ethiopia during the 1860s and raised at the London Zoo, where he became the top attraction. But Jumbo - perhaps suffering from an impacted wisdom tooth - turned mean at age 21, and the zoo was looking to sell him.
Enter Barnum, who shelled out $10,000 for what he billed as "The Towering Monarch of His Race." The 6 1/2-ton African elephant became Barnum's greatest draw from 1882 to 1885, when a train accident killed the beast.
Barnum then commissioned taxidermist Carl Akeley to preserve and mount Jumbo's skeleton. It took six months, but Jumbo dead proved to be almost as big a draw as Jumbo live.
Jumbo also made a lasting contribution to the English language. His name quickly became a synonym for large-sized; think of him the next time you heft a jumbo shake or eat some jumbo shrimp. (His name was derived from an African god.)

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB