Tuffi (born 1946,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

– died in 1989,

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a female

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

that became famous in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

during 1950 when she accidentally fell from the

Wuppertal Schwebebahn The Wuppertaler Schwebebahn () is a suspension railway in Wuppertal, Germany. The line was originally called in () named after its inventor, Eugen Langen. It is the oldest electric elevated railway with hanging cars in the world. Being grade-se ...

into the River

Wupper The Wupper () is a right tributary of the Rhine in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Rising near Marienheide in western Sauerland it runs through the mountainous region of the Bergisches Land in Berg County and enters the Rhine at Le ...

underneath. On 21 July 1950, the circus director Franz Althoff ( de) had Tuffi, then four years old, travel on the suspended

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

, as a publicity stunt. The elephant trumpeted wildly and ran through the carriage, broke through a window and fell into the River Wupper, suffering only minor injuries. A panic broke out in the carriage and some passengers were injured. Althoff helped the elephant out of the water. Both the circus director and the official who had allowed the ride were fined. Tuffi was sold to Cirque Alexis Gruss ( fr) in 1968; she died there in 1989. No photograph of the incident is known; a widely circulated postcard picture is a montage. A building near the location of the incident, between the stations and , features a painting of Tuffi. A local milk-factory has chosen the name as a brand. The Wuppertal tourist information keeps an assortment of Tuffi-related souvenirs, local websites show original pictures. In 1970 Marguerita Eckel and Ernst-Andreas Ziegler published a children's picture book about the incident titled (“Tuffi and the suspension railway”).

References

* Stephan Oettermann: ''Die Schaulust am Elefanten. Eine Elephantographia curiosa''. Syndikat:Frankfurt am Main 1982. Chapter ''Elefantenkatastrophen und „Wunder der Tierdressur“'', S. 69-82; S. 73. . {{coord, 51, 16, 5.13, N, 7, 11, 33.13, E, type:event_region:DE-NW, display=title 1946 animal births 1989 animal deaths Circus elephants Individual animals in Germany Individual Asian elephants

See also

References