Amsterdam’s elephants

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Frank Norman

Well, if Joanna can post gratuitous pictures of furry animals then so can I. Though mine are funny animals rather than furry animals. Last year I showed some of Liverpool’s superlambananas ; this year I show you a parade of Amsterdam’s elephants.
They are colourful elephant replicas with arty designs and patterns painted on, all in the cause of drawing attention to the Asian elephant and raising money for an elephant charity. The idea has already been in Rotterdam and Antwerp but the Amsterdam version, with 100 elephants, is the largest yet. It will run until 31st October.

This one looks a bit Australian to me

In the style of Matisse, perhaps?



Ah, a bit of Delft-ware



This one has a polar bear on top of it.
And here are a couple of photos of a real-live bird, posing beautifully in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark:

About Frank Norman

I am a retired librarian. I spent 40 years working in biomedical research libraries.
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9 Responses to Amsterdam’s elephants

  1. Anna Vilborg says:
    September 14, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    Cool! A bit like the cow parade that was all over some time ago. Except that was for rising funds for other things than the cows themselves…

  2. Matt Brown says:
    September 14, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    Frank: best of all, it’s coming to London next year.

  3. Frank Norman says:
    September 14, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    @Anna – yes, I was reminded too of the Milton Keynes cows.
    M – wow! That will be fun. Will you be leading a walk round all the sites?

  4. Joanna Scott says:
    September 14, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    Cool! Decorated elephants definitely beat boring “real” animals – I especially like the black one with the coloured smiley-faces on it. I think it’s a good idea to have them raising money for a relevant charity – they did it a few years ago here in San Francisco with hearts to raise money for the local hospital. The one which was split down the middle to represent a broken heart was quite good!
    Do they auction them off for the charity in the end? I wonder how much they are; I can’t think of many things cooler than a giant multi-coloured elephant in the living room.

  5. Joanna Scott says:
    September 14, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    PS: As a die-hard Michael Schumacher fan, I’m duty-bound to ask – is there a Prancing Elephant?

    Prancing cow, Prague 2004, by Paweider

  6. Eva Amsen says:
    September 15, 2009 at 12:05 am

    A few years ago, my parents saw this cow in Budapest:

    Toronto has a bunch of moose , leftover from a similar campaign in 2001. (I know of about 5 that are still standing here and there. They’re hard to get rid of)

  7. Sabine Hossenfelder says:
    September 15, 2009 at 5:12 am

    I’ve seen the same with lions, bears, cows, Euro coins etc. Is that some kind of fad?

  8. Richard Wintle says:
    September 15, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    Fabulous things. Yes, those Toronto Moose do seem to be still around, although some are looking distinctly weatherbeaten by now.
    Frank – I’ve seen at least two other peoples’ photos of a heron standing in the middle of Amsterdam and I’m betting it’s the same one. It seems very photogenic and glamorous, somehow.

  9. Frank Norman says:
    September 15, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    Joanna – yes, I believe they do auction the elephants off at the end, to raise money. I don’t think I’d have the space – they are more outdoors sculptures than indoors. Not sure if there is a prancing elephant – I didn’t see them all.
    Eva – that poor melted cow looks quite uncomfortable, with a stick stuck up it.
    Sabine- I guess it is a bit of a fad. Quirky series of sculptures on the street. I quit like it though.
    Richard – funnily enough I saw another heron just standing by the side of a canal the following day. It also seemed very relaxed.

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