Hannibal's last war elephant in Italy was called Surus. He was believed to be the final survivor of the elephants that accompanied the Carthaginian army during the invasion of Italy in the Second Punic War.
Ancient writers describe Surus as a large elephant with a broken tusk. One tradition says he wore a red cloth and may have carried a shield and a howdah, the platform used by riders. Some accounts also suggest that Hannibal used Surus as a command platform after losing sight in one eye.
The elephant's identity is not completely certain. “Surus” may mean “the Syrian,” leading some historians to identify him as a Syrian or western Asian elephant. Others argue that the name was a Roman nickname connected with his broken tusk, and that he may instead have been a North African elephant. Those debates do not change the conventional quiz answer.