Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)

The Asian elephant is one of the first specimens naturalized in Europe. It was one of the four elephants of the King Carlos III, who liked the pachyderms a lot because of their intelligence. This specimen, a gift from the governor of Philippines was shipped alive in Manila (Philippines), from where he traveled by sea to Cádiz, and from there to Aranjuez (Madrid) on foot for 42 days. Unfortunately, it died in 1777, four years after his arrival in Spain. After his death, Carlos III asked the painter and taxidermist Juan Bautista Brú to naturalize it, to exhibit it at the Royal Cabinet of Natural History, which was inaugurated in 1776.