Minyak
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) at
Carson and Barnes Circus in United States

Biography

☨ ♀ Minyak
Minyak in Madison Square Garden in April of 1960. Photo: Dominic Yodice

Alternative name:	Minjak

Identification

EEP nr	3201
SSP nr	T2035

Description
Species:	Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)
Sex and age:	Female ♀ 32 years old
Status:	confiscated
Origin
Born:	* 1932-01-29 captive-born , number 1
Birth place:	in Circus Carl Hagenbeck-Stellingen
Birth weight	127.00 kgs, 279.40 lbs

Parents:	♂ Jacky x ♀ Roma I
Death
Dead:	†1964-00-00
Death reason:	unknown:
Locations - owners
Present / last location:	Carson and Barnes Circus, in United States

Date of arrival

1964-00-00	Carson and Barnes Circus from Hoxie Brothers Circus

1962-00-00	Hoxie Brothers Circus from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

1960-00-00	Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus International (South America Tour)

1960-00-00	Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus International (South America Tour) from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

1947-06-20	Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from Zoo Circus

1944-00-00	Zoo Circus 1944-00-00 from Circus Carl Hagenbeck-Stellingen

1932-09-00	Circus Carl Hagenbeck-Stellingen from Leipzig Zoo

1932-07-13	Leipzig Zoo from Circus Carl Hagenbeck-Stellingen

Record history
History of updates	2025-03-17:

Latest document update	2024-03-22 14:00:06

† Minyak is a dead confiscated Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1964-00-00 at Carson and Barnes Circus, in United States, .

Origin

The North American Regional Studbook lists this elephant with a Temporary Studbook Number, lacking "supporting documentation to validate their identity."

Minyak was born captive-born as birth number 1 1932-01-29 at Circus Carl Hagenbeck-Stellingen.

Parentage

Parents of Minyak are: ♂ Jacky (father) and ♀ Roma I (mother).

Siblings through the father Jacky:

1934-05-01 -- † 1965-09-13 (F) Maja
1936-08-08 -- † 1953-07-31 (M) August

Pedigree

**Minyaks ancestral Pedigree:**
P	I	II	III
Minyak	Sire (f): Jacky Born: 1899	Sire ff: Born:	Sire fff:
		Sire ff: Born:	Dame ffm:
		Dame fm: Born:	Sire fmf:
		Dame fm: Born:	Dame fmm:
	Dame m: Roma I Born: 1905-1910	Sire mf: Born:	Sire mff:
		Sire mf: Born:	Dame mfm:
		Dame mm: Born:	Sire mmf:
		Dame mm: Born:	Dame mmm:

Comments / pictures

Minjak was conceived in Leipzig Zoo, but various sources give various records for her birth place:

Contradictory records:

1. According to Hugo Schmidt she was born in a Zoo in Essen.
2. Gerhard Zapf gives in his book a very clear birthplace: at the Circus elephant tent while on tour in Essen.
3. EEP state she was born in Hamburg (Hagenbecks Tierpark)
4. According to EEG, she died in 1986 by Ringling, why she with 54 years should be the oldest captive-bred elephant.
5. SSP studbook state another death date than EEG.

Records about Minyak from EEPEuropean Studbook for Asian elephants state following records for the asian elephant Minyak:

3201 F 29 Jan 1932 JACKY ROMA-1 HAMBURG 29 Jan 1932 NONE Birth Minjak
CIRCUS 1 Jan 1950 NONE Transfer
1 Jan 1964 Death

Source: EEP studbook for Asian elephants online

Roma, Minyak and Hugo Schmitt, 1932

During world war II she was send, together with other elephants, with the circus to Malmoe in Sweden, in order to be protected from the war. But all elephants became confiscated by the swedish government, and sold to Ringling Bros Circus.

Minyak and Sabu came from the Hagenbeck Zoo where they appeared in a five act "Kernaudi", "Minyak", "Mudu", "Sabu" and "Icky" where they were presented by Hugo Schmitt.
Hugo once told me that as the Allied bombing intensified in Germany he often spent the night with them under a concrete overpass nearby waiting for the all clear signal.
Hugo and the elephants were soon shipped out of the country into neutral Sweden with hopes they would be returned after the war but such was not the case, they were confiscated by the Swedish Government and eventually sold to the Ringling Show in 1947.
In 1961 the Ringling Show sent a unit to South America and "Minyak" and "Sabu" were included but on their return were both sold to Hoxie-Bartok Circus in 1962 (I might add that Hugo never owned these elephants) and thenUnited Nations Circus in 1963. (Same show?)
They were sold to D.R. Miller in 1964 and "Minyak" died shortly after arriving in Oklahoma and "Sabu" died a year later after being leased to Carson & Barnes Circus (owned by Jack Moore) for that season.

Hugo added that "Minyak" had a calf while in the Hagenbeck Zoo and that he touched it before Minyak did. Today I hear that with so many calves being born in captivity, that is almost always the case.
William Buckles Woodcock

Many are the films which have been shot at Stellingen or with our
help, many too the television shows. One of the finest of these was
Cecil B. deMille's great American colour film The Greatest Show on
Earth. Here, through our animals and tamers, we were unwilling
collaborators. That film, as it Happens, reminded me vividly of my
own young days in American circus work. However, it did bring
about another meeting with Minjak. In the German dubbing of that
film her name remained the same, but even without that I would have
known her from a hundred other elephants. Minjak, expropriated in
Sweden, was born at Stellingen. Now she had been filmed in the
biggest circus in the world, and was the star of all the other animals
in it. Her foot swayed menacingly over the head of a girl artiste. She
carried her principal producer, another girl performer, in her mouth.
And she went through it all as magnificently as she had originally
learned in our Stellingen school. When I saw that film, I found myself
drying my eyes in the kindly darkness of the cinema.
Animals Are My Life, by Lorenz Hagenbeck

Reference list

References

Koehl, Dan, (2025). Minyak, Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) located at Carson and Barnes Circus in United States. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 4 April 2025 at https://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=1408. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Animals Are My Life, by Lorenz Hagenbeck
Elephants and Egotists by Patricia Sumerling
Page 77,
Jumbo auf dem Drahtseil - Elefanten dressuren von gestern und heute by Gerhard Zapf
<a href="http://bucklesw.blogspot.com/2005/12/minyak-and-sabu.html">William Buckles Woodcock</a></cite>
https://bucklesw.blogspot.com/2011/04/from-dominic-yodice.html
https://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2011/03/hagenbeck-revisted.html

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