Juan Carlos I of Spain to revert Spain to Francoist government in the King's name. In 2008, he was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America. Hailed for his role in Spain's transition to democracy, the King and the monarchy's reputation began to suffer after controversies surrounding his family arose, exacerbated by an elephant-hunting trip he undertook during a time of financial crisis in Spain. In 2014, Juan Carlos, citing personal reasons, abdicated in favour of his son, who acceded to the throne as Felipe VI. Juan Carlos was born to Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, and Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in
North African elephant was possibly a subspecies of the extant Asian elephant that became extinct shortly after Hannibal invaded Italy, but before the extinction of the North African elephant. The North African elephant was also trained and used by the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Writing in the 2nd century BC, Polybius ("The Histories"; 5.84) described their inferiority in battle against the larger Indian elephants used by the Seleucid kings. A surviving Ptolemaic inscription enumerates three types of war elephant, the "Troglodytic" (probably Libyan), the "Ethiopian", and the "Indian". The Ptolemaic king prides himself with being the first to tame the Ethiopian elephants, a