English: The "Fényköv Elephant" in the rotunda of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., USA.

This was a rogue male African elephant (Loxodonta africana). The hide (which weighs two tons) was donated to the Smithsonian by Hungarian big-game hunter Josef J. Fénykövi. Fénykövi tracked the elephant in the Cuando River region of southeastern Angola in November 1955. He later wrote about the hunt for the magazine Sports Illustrated.

Smithsonian taxidermists spent 16 months preparing the animal for exhibition. The hide was tanned, and a massive clay model of the elephant sculpted to fit the hide. Every wrinkle and fold in the skin had to be exactly duplicated. A plaster and fiber mold was then made on top of the skin, and the clay removed. This left a large hollow elephant. It was cut in half to provide easier access. Plaster was then applied to the inside of the skin, and built up using several layers of papier-mâché, burlap, and aluminum mesh. The two halves were joined together and a wooden skeleton placed inside the body to provide even more support. The outer plaster was then laboriously chiseled away to expose the outer skin. The hide was cleaned, painted, and colored with beeswax.

The elephant was unveiled on March 6, 1959. At the time, it was the world’s largest land mammal on display in a museum.

The tusks are not ivory. The original tusks were too heavy for the model (they weighed 90 pounds each), and are kept in storage. Celluloid tusks were cast in 1959, but in 1988 they were replaced with fiberglass ones. The eyes are made of hand-blown glass.