Why Elephant And Donkey Represent US Political Parties

Why so the elephant and donkey represent the United States biggest political parties?

With roots in the Civil War era, the Republican elephant was popularized in the political cartoons of Thomas Nast. Nast drew a Republican elephant fleeing a lion skin clad donkey.

The Democratic donkey was introduced decades before to insult Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Jackson. Jackson found it funny and embraced it, although the Democratic party has never adopted the donkey as its official symbol.