Some historians believe that the elephants came from a small forest
subspecies of elephants located in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria.
These elephants were somewhat small, standing eight feet tall at the shoulders,
and may not have been as useful for military purposes. Gavin de Beer, of the
British Museum of Natural History wrote about these elephants, describing them
as smelly and loud, and stating that they were highly dangerous when they
charged. Some historians cite a coin from Hannibal’s time that depicts an
African elephant.
