The year of the elephant

These turned out to be the bones of a straight-tusked elephant (palaeoloxodon antiquus) that lived about 120,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene era, more popularly known as the Last Ice Age. The Warsaw authorities later decided to commemorate the discovery of the oldest specimen of an animal ever in the soil of the city by installing a plaque at the station’s entrance emblazoned with an image of the antediluvian creature, together with replicas of some of the bones displayed in an illuminated case set into the floor. The installation is not very big, but actually looks quite good. However, since such elephants grew to five metres in height and had a weight of up to seven tonnes, many local people have become a bit obsessed by the find and have let their imaginations run a bit wild. Almost every day you can see hordes of pre- and infant school children who have been dragged to Płocka station by their teachers to gaze upon the remains of the prehistoric giant. Unfortunately