rhamphotheca:

Histoire Naturelle des Deux Elefans (1803)

by  J.P.L.L. Houel

‘This posture seems to be impossible, even for young elephants with flexible extremities. Nevertheless, something like this has really happened at least four times in the gardens around Het Loo palace near Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, in 1789. At the time, Stadholder William V’s elephants Hans and Parkie were only seven years old. The elephants were confiscated by the French in 1795 and later on transported to Paris as war trophies, but they never demonstrated this behaviour again.’

— from  A collection of pictures and poems from the collections at The Linnean Society of London.

(via: Linnean Soc. London)

(via mermanonfire)