British Alpine Hannibal Expedition The British Alpine Hannibal Expedition was an experimental archeology event that took place in 1959 . British engineer John Hoyte led an expedition that tried to reenact aspects of Hannibal ' s legendary crossing of the Alps during the Second Punic War in 218 BCE . The group successfully took the female Asian elephant " Jumbo " , provided by a zoo in Turin , from France over the Col du Mont Cenis into Italy . Background . After the Carthaginian defeat in the First Punic War of 264 – 241 BCE , Hamilcar Barca secured an extensive territory in the Iberian peninsula for Carthage . At the beginning of the Second Punic War in 218 BCE , his son Hannibal took an army of perhaps 50 , 000 men and 37 war elephants from Hispania ( modern - day Spain ) to Italy , where he led a 15 year campaign against Rome . Hannibal avoided the coastal route , and took his army over the Alps . His march has been described by ancient historians Polybius and Livy . The exact route , however , has been subject of long but inconclusive scholarly discourse . In his 1955 book " Alps and elephants : Hannibal ' s march " , Gavin de Beer lists 12 possible candidates from 30 different books . The expedition . In 1955 , " The Times " published a debate about the route Hannibal might have taken over the Alps . This debate came to the attention of John Hoyte , then an engineering student at Cambridge University . Hoyte had an interest in both history and mountain climbing , and spent the summer of 1956 with friends hiking the Alps and comparing possible routes to the ancient descriptions . The group came to the conclusion that the Col de Clapier was the most likely pass , an opinion still supported by some modern historians . A few years later , a friend suggested to test this theory with an actual elephant . Hoyte wrote letters to the British consuls in Lyon , France , Geneva , Switzerland , and Turin , enquiring about the possibility of obtaining an elephant for the experiment , but without a serious expectation of success . However , the Turin Zoo had just acquired a female Asian elephant , " Jumbo " , who was trained as a circus animal . The owner of the zoo volunteered " Jumbo " and became the first sponsor of the expedition . Hoyte put together a team of 8 people , including Richard Jolly as the expedition secretary and Cambridge professor of veterinary science John Hickman , who had gained experience with elephants during World War II in Burma . The group obtained insurance for " Jumbo " from Lloyd ' s of London and further sponsorship from " Life " magazine , which later published a 7 page photo report . The expedition started in late July 1959 in Montmelian , France . It followed the valley of the Arc river and then ascended towards the Col de Clapier . However , the route up to the pass had become narrowed and dangerous due to rockfall . The group retracted down into the valley and crossed the Col du Mont Cenis , another pass suggested for Hannibal ' s route by none less than French emperor Napoleon . After 10 days of travel , the expedition successfully " invaded " Susa in Italy . The members of the expedition originally planned to call the 5 , 700 pound ( 2 . 6 t ) elephant " Hannibella " , however , the animal could not be made to respond to the new name and thus remained " Jumbo " . " Jumbo " was 11 years old and equipped with leather boots and knee pads for the most treacherous passages . A specially made coat was provided to keep her warm . Despite a diet consisting of of hay , of apples , of bread , of carrots , and a vitamin B supplement per day , she lost an estimated during the first 4 days of the trip , and nearly in total . On arrival in Italy , she consumed cake and a Magnum bottle of Chianti . In 1960 , Hoyte published a report on the expedition as " Trunk Road for Hannibal : With an Elephant Over the Alps " .