In memory of Siam - Paris - 1980's

One of the most impressive bull elephants, Europe has ever seen !
This picture was taken by Steve Romo. He gave me permission to post some of his remarkable photos here on ZooChat.

I thought it was an Imperial Mammoth there for a moment. Impressive looking animal.

Very impressive, I'm in aww, how big was the zoological park of paris' enclosure?

This impressive animal is mounted (taxidermist style) at the Grand Galerie d Evolution at the jardin del plantes. There is an interesting video there on his life.

I don’t know the exact dimensions of Siam’s enclosure; I would describe it as adequate, but it certainly wasn’t particularly large.

I was fortunate enough to see “Siam” several times at Vincennes Zoo during the 1980s and 1990s; he was, without doubt, the most impressive elephant I’ve ever seen. Last time I saw him, he was mounted in the Paris Zoology Museum (Grande Galerie d’Evolution).

I saw him in Feb 1996. It was a freezing cold day & snowing, so the Elephants were shut inside. He was chained up in a tiny stall, with hardly any room to move around.
He is/was one of the most impressive looking Bull Elephants I have seen, but it broke my heart to see him like that.
In fact, the conditions for the majority of species that day were appalling. I left the zoo feeling extremely upset at what I had seen.

Did the Paris Zoo have a separate exhibit for African elephants, or was the African forest elephant that they had in with the Asian elephants? Did anybody here visit this zoo when they had the cyclotis?

What a magnificant animal he was!

Yes, I saw the cyclotis elephant in Paris a number of times.

It was never mixed with the Asiatic elephants on any of my visits; the African elephants were in a separate, but adjacent, enclosure.

Thanks for the information Tim. It seems like I've missed my chance to see a cyclotis in any European or American zoo.

Did it appear noticeably different to you from the savanna elephants? I think that there was also a cyclotis at Whipsnade at about the same time as the one in Paris?