Can Elephants read?
3

Question

Can Elephants read?

jmw (Industrial)

(OP)

12 Mar 08 11:01

Sorry but since we have often commented on signs (I hate that word "sinage" almost as much as the term "street furniture") I couldn't resist this offering to be seen (today only) in the travel photos section of the Telegraph (click the link on the right side of http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

It is a bridge sign that says:
"NOTICE
This bridge is rated for a maximum of 11 tons.
Elephants are requested to cross two at a time only."

Actually, what does a solitary elephant do? wait for another to come along? Or pretend not to have learned to read and cross anyway?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

MintJulep (Mechanical) · Answer 1 · 2008-03-12 11:22:12

I couldn't find an appropriate link on the telegraph - must have changed. Where was the sign? Did it apply to African or Asian elephants?

According to http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_weight_of_an_elephant

Two average African bull elephants would exceed 11 tons, while three average Asian cows (which are heavier than Asian bulls) could cross with a bit of margin.

Are elephants placarded with their empty and max loaded weight?

Ussuri (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 2 · 2008-03-12 12:15:28

Not sure about elephants, but pheasants can. On the country estate where my grandmother lives they have a lot of signs next to the roads which state:

"Pheasants take care"

The green cross code obviously wasn't in the pheasant school curriculum.

msquared48 (Structural) · Answer 3 · 2008-03-12 15:55:39

MintJulep:

Go down to "Picture Galleries" and click on "Travel Photo Contest". I think it is the third or fourth picture in the set of 18 listed.

Isn't the English Language great? Just have to learn how to use it properly.

Mike McCann
McCann Engineering

electricpete (Electrical) · Answer 4 · 2008-03-12 23:13:35

Quote:
Did it apply to African or Asian elephants?

At which point jmw should say: I don't knoooowwww...

Bridgekeeper: Hee hee heh. Stop! What... is your name?
Arthur: It is 'Arthur', King of the Britons.
Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest?
Arthur: To seek the Holy Grail.
Bridgekeeper: What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Arthur: What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
Bridgekeeper: Huh? I-- I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh!
http://www.armory.com/swallowscenes.html#question

=====================================
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swearingen (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 5 · 2008-03-13 09:29:42

Dangit! You beat me to it, Pete...

If you "heard" it on the internet, it's guilty until proven innocent. - DCS

oldfieldguy (Electrical) · Answer 6 · 2008-03-13 11:20:17

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from college. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot, and found a large thorn deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the thorn out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him.

For several tense moments Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away. Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the amazing events of that day.

Twenty years later he was walking through a zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe and lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help but wonder if this was the same elephant.

Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

old field guy

KENAT (Mechanical) · Answer 7 · 2008-03-13 11:25:42

An old'n but a good'n.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

vpl (Nuclear) · Answer 8 · 2008-03-13 11:53:22

I've come across a sign reading "Slow turtle crossing." Underneath it was a handmade cardboard sign in somewhat childish writing that clarified that the driver should be the one to go slow. Somebody must have decided that the turtle will go at its normal . . . s . l . o . w . . . pace without permission from the State.

Patricia Lougheed

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TheBlacksmith (Mechanical) · Answer 9 · 2008-03-18 09:49:25

My two favorite signs in the whole world;

"Dip in road" and "Slow children ahead." Every time I see one of those I laugh so hard my wife assumes I'm one or the other (or both).

dutch7777 (Mechanical) · Answer 10 · 2008-03-18 10:50:25

The signs next to the speed bumps in my neighborhood read
"Traffic Calming Ahead" LOL

chapp333 (Mechanical) · Answer 11 · 2008-03-18 15:55:06

I am tempted to reach for the emergency brake every time I see a sign that say "Slide Area Ahead".

Robert

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 12 · 2008-03-19 05:12:57

OK, now visit today's Daily Telegraph and this time select "Chinglish" from the same location (pictures, right hand side).
I guess translators are hard to find even after all these years of BBC English being taught.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

corus (Mechanical) · Answer 13 · 2008-03-19 05:14:16

In the UK we have 'lollipop ladies' who help schoolchildren cross the road to get to school by holding up a sign to traffic that says 'STOP CHILDREN'. I heartily agree with that sentiment, they can be a pest at times.

corus

msquared48 (Structural) · Answer 14 · 2008-03-19 11:55:08

Apparently these elephants can read - they must not be Republicans... bigsmile

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

fcsuper (Mechanical) · Answer 15 · 2008-03-20 01:30:47

I like the fact that the elephants are supposed to know their own weight.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

KENAT (Mechanical) · Answer 16 · 2008-03-25 12:19:02

"I like the fact that the elephants are supposed to know their own weight. "

You're right, the ability of an elephant to read the sign pales into insignificance in comparison to being able to know it's own weight.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

Artisi (Mechanical) · Answer 17 · 2008-03-26 01:25:40

and as elephants are either African or Asian, there English language ability must also be considered as remarkable.

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 18 · 2008-03-26 08:07:38

Actually, very discriminatory.... it implies that elephants are the intellectual elite of the animal kingdom but is that fact or prejudice?
Perhaps elephants are very self-concious about their weight? Perhaps they are always weighing themselves and going on diets.
It is very unkind to single out elephants as having a weight problem and the sign makes no mention of how many hippopotami, with or without pajamas (Flanders and Swann) suggesting they are no problem at all.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 19 · 2008-04-07 12:34:57

Two signs amused me during my trip to Boston at the back end of last week.
The first (in Little Italy) was a sign which said:
No Loitering.
Police Take Notice
Which I thus assume was intended to stop Policemen loitering around the Italian restaurants eating doughnuts.
The second was one at the entrance to the Navy yard where the USS Constitution is open to visitors. It announced that firearms are prohibited on the base. Nice to know the US Navy has no guns.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

newnickname (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 20 · 2008-05-06 16:29:13

I think that two elephants can cross together only if they promise to break their marching cadence. It may be a matter of harmonics that limits the numbers in their parade.

Bobber1 (Structural) · Answer 21 · 2008-05-12 13:35:04

Here in Sandy Eggo, the wild animal park invited the public to name it's new African safari railroad through the park. The entry chosen as winner because it had a nice African ring to it was "Wgasa". Little did park officials know that that's the common abbreviation for "Who gives a sh**, anyway".

Bob

berkshire (Aeronautics) · Answer 22 · 2008-05-17 04:20:12

Bobber1
I believe the originator of that name was Dr. Charles Schroeder: The original director of the park.
B.E.

KENAT (Mechanical) · Answer 23 · 2008-05-19 11:58:29

But Bobbers story is more fun. I'll have to check it out I'm down that way at the weekend barring AOG. (Acts of God, not Assemblies of God, as far as I know the pentacostals have no reason to stop me).

As to elephants reading, I saw a story a while back about one painting. So they better put up no Graffiti signs.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

newnickname (Civil/Environmental) · Answer 24 · 2008-05-20 14:41:38

I think an elephant can be trained to spell the word, "no".

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 25 · 2008-05-20 19:20:58

Apparently they can recognise themselves in mirrors.... some great scientific research that consisted of marking the side of an elephants head with a white cross (or silver, it looked very much like a duct tape soft furnishing repair) and then showed the elephant itself in a mirror.
For some reason the outcome of this experiment was that they can recognise themselves.

Now what I'd like to know is if you confront an elephant that has a bit of cabbage or something on its cheek and you point to the equivalent spot on your own cheek....then what do they do?
Also, what happens if when female elephants pass a shoe shop?
What?
What?
Hang on, I think I forgot my medicine today....

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

KENAT (Mechanical) · Answer 26 · 2008-05-20 19:22:56

That or you took a double dose!

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 27 · 2008-06-12 19:12:07

Thanks to the Telegraph again:
"Dogs - Please close the gate."
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/2110135/Sign-language-week-2.html see sign 6)

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

drawoh (Mechanical) · Answer 28 · 2008-06-13 13:33:48

   How about this?

   http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson/CubicCentiliters.jpeg

   I photographed it on John Street in downtown Toronto a couple of years ago.

                        JHG

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 29 · 2008-06-13 16:59:08

Bad mark for Becks! cheers

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

fcsuper (Mechanical) · Answer 30 · 2008-06-14 11:39:13

I would guess they estimated the number of centiliters of a drop. They also can't spell.

Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group

jmw (Industrial) · Answer 31 · 2008-06-15 07:30:43

Of course, they could have been sampling the wares when they came up with this advert....

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

drawoh (Mechanical) · Answer 32 · 2008-06-16 12:13:47

fcsuper,

   For a second there, I thought you had solved the mystery.  A litre must be a unit of length, perhaps dating back to that Bavarian Beer Code!  And all along, I thought they meant "liters".

   It was not to be.  My Oxford Dictionary, 4th Edition, says "litre", and does not mention "liter" at all.  Presumably, you are one of those damn colonials.

                           JHG

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