Baby elephant

I've walked past this and wondered what it was so many times, so today I took a picture to remind me to find out later. Conflicting information - I read on one page it's sort of a joke, when the North Bridge was built (1897) people weren't convinced it was safe so didn't use it. To prove it was safe, 12 elephants were borrowed from circuses and walked over it. I guess/hope we've more sophisticated ways of testing bridge safety now. Another page says it's to highlight the endangered status of the Asian elephant. It can be both!