Although this is never explicitly stated, it is generally thought that heffalumps are elephants from a child's viewpoint (the word «heffalump» being a child's attempt at pronouncing «elephant»)^[1]: E. H. Shepard's illustrations in A. A. Milne's original books depict heffalumps (as seen in Piglet's dreams) as looking very much like elephants.

In Disney's adaptations of the stories, Heffalumps are first mentioned in the 1968 featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and seem to be a product of Tigger's imagination. Heffalumps first actual appearance was in the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. In both the animated films and all subsequent television series, they are also depicted as looking like elephants, albeit slightly cuddlier and less fierce than those Pooh imagines in the books and with rabbit-like tails.