What is an ankus used for and who uses it?
Elephants are very intelligent animals that can be trained to do many tasks. In some countries they are used to lift and pull heavy objects like logs, or to transport people. Indian armies used elephants as part of their cavalry. In India elephants were also used to carry royalty, including princes and maharajas, who rode high on their backs. The king was the only person allowed to breed elephants in captivity, and when hunting he would avoid killing them. The elephant trainer, called a mahout, often used an ankus (a goad or a prod) to guide, caress, and occasionally discipline an elephant. Today, elephants are trained using food rewards rather than discipline.
Ankus
An ankus looks similar to a poker that would be used in a fireplace. It has a pointed tip with a curved piece of metal extending a few inches outward, ending in another point. The handle may be made of wood, fibreglass, or occasionally metal. This ankus is over 100 years old and has been made from steel and brass. When polished, the brass gleams like gold making it look precious and fit for use in ceremonies. On such occasions the elephants are covered with brightly coloured rugs, bells are placed around their feet and charms of good fortune are painted down their trunks.
3 Responses
this entire post was lifted from here: http://nga.gov.au/Wolfensohn/RED/ankus.htm
this should be deleted. plagiarism is a sickening act.
Posted on August 24th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with byap. Plagiarism is a display of an insecure individual and his feeble quest to acheive an intellectual status which he is not able to attain without the aid of other people’s intellectual property.
Unless you are saying that you wrote that Australian National Gallery article. If that’s the case that I take everything back, but the chances of that are incredibly obsure and unlikely.
And why didn’t you include this bit too?
“Activities
Look closely at the ankus, how many animals are used in its decoration?
Why would the artist decorate the ankus in this way?
Collect objects from nature and make your own ankus.
In what countries are elephants found and in what ways are the elephants different? “
Posted on August 24th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
You are right, i ripped it off. I apologise for the plagiarism, since i didnt really bother to do much on this since i was forced to send an entry by someone in authority of me and i thought i could delete it later… unfortunately, i realised i couldnt, and then i forgot about it until the comments landed in the email. Since i couldnt ignore them, i decided to write this comment. I hope this gets deleted… Or can i delete it myself? Or at least edit it? Can someone tell me? Since the person in authority has already looked at this ripped off text… Sorry bout the plagiarised text. And i apologise to the website that i ripped it off. I just googled it and ctrl+c and ctrl+v it into the entry thing. Really sorry.
Posted on August 24th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
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