in zoology. See Elephas.

Knights of the Elephant, an order of knighthood in Denmark, conferred upon none but persons of the first quality and merit. It is also called the order of St Mary. Its institution is said to have been owing to a gentleman among the Danish crofters having killed an elephant, in an expedition against the Saracens, in 1184; in memory of which king Canute instituted this order, the badge of which is a towered elephant, with an image of the holy virgin encircled with rays, and hung on a watered sky-coloured ribbon, like the George in England.