The 11-ton African elephant has graced the Museum’s Rotunda since 1959. Sometimes called the Fénykövi elephant, after the Hungarian game hunter who donated the hide, it’s more often called by its affectionate nickname: Henry.

In 2015 Henry was carefully cleaned and patched with special hand-colored beeswax, and his platform was redesigned.

The new platform includes an information desk and new info on African elephant ecology, the threat of poaching, and their place in geologic time. The new platform reveals the previously hidden, inlaid compass in the Rotunda floor.