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Jumbo

Jumbo the Elephant

Elephant
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A 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and then transferred in 1865 to London Zoo in England. Despite public protest, Jumbo was sold to P. T. Barnum, who took him to the United States for exhibition in March 1882. The giant elephant's name spawned the common word "Jumbo," meaning large in size. Examples of his lexical impact are phrases like "jumbo jet", "jumbo shrimp," "jumbo marshmallows," and "jumbotron." Jumbo's shoulder height has been estimated to have been 3.23 metres at the time of his death, and was claimed to be about 4 m by Barnum.

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