Project Dumbo was the brainchild of a Carter Administration official. He heard news of an exciting new technology that could combine the DNA of two animals to form a new animal. This official decided to start a new project called Project DNA. All of the first attempts were from 1977 to 1980 and all were unsuccessful. In April of 1981 a breakthrough occurred. A half bird, half lizard was born and lived for two weeks. The scientists, now with their new found optimism, wondered what they could create next. They decided what they were needed was something that could fly and carry a major amount of goods. They then set out to combine the DNA of elephants and the DNA of bats to make a new species of flying elephants. They called it Project Dumbo.
The first successful elephants with wings came in 1983. This elephants lived for two years, during which many more elephants were born. The team of scientists working on Project Dumbo named the first elephant Skippy. Skippy died in 1985 while it was being trained to fly. Because this was the first elephant they tried to train to fly, the scientists were working by trial and error. Skippy, along with the other elephants, was being trained to fly in southwestern Nevada. Do to the sensitive ears of the elephants ears (remember that it is genetically combined with a bat) Skippy freaked and crashed when one of the trainers blew a whistle. The elephants haven't exactly been easy to train. Many elephants died when they came down too fast and crashed. Even two scientists died when an elephants crashed into the research building they were working in. Unfortunatly, many elephants had to be killed when they did not respond to commands and flew beyond their training zone and had to be shot down so that any civillians did not see them.
Currently the U.S. Government is debating wheather or not the project should continue. While the animals have provided useful applications, their upkeep is too much to handle. Studies are underway and all uses of the elephants are on hold.