An Indian inventor has created a device to stop rampaging elephants in their tracks, amid concern about human injuries and deaths when they run amok, his company said last week.
Zachariah Mathew’s Violent Elephant Control Gear has been designed to provide a humane alternative to sedating the animals, which are often used in religious festivals and are revered in Hinduism.
“During these festivals sometimes the animal is not well and might not be feeling comfortable but he can’t express his feelings to you, so he will react,” said James George, from Mathew’s firm Senzo Engineering, in Mumbai.
“People close by fire sedative shots. They don’t want to kill the animal but just bring it under control. Due to panic and fear, instead of one or two shots, they fire three, four, five, six and the animal gets an overdose.”
Mathew’s device involves attaching a fibreglass box weighing six to eight kilograms to one of the elephant’s back legs.
At the first sign of the animal turning violent, the mahout or elephant driver can activate the battery-operated device by remote control, sending a nylon belt contained inside to wrap around the tusker’s other hind leg.
“The elephant is a very clever animal. He knows he won’t be able to move. He won’t fall at a great speed that may damage his leg. There’s no problem,” George, the firm’s marketing manager, told AFP.
Trials have been conducted successfully in Mathew’s home state of Kerala, in south India, where elephants are also used in agriculture, said George, expressing hope the device will be sold across India and the world.
George said the cost of the device is yet to be finalized, although reports have suggested it will retail for about 25,000 rupees (US$540).
(AFP)
印度某公司上週表示,該公司一名發明家已設計出一款裝置,可以讓抓狂亂衝的大象止步,減少人類受傷或喪生的機率。
薩迦利亞.馬修發明的「狂暴大象控制器」,為制服大象提供了人道的替代方案;大象經常出現在印度教的宗教節慶上,且相當受到尊敬。
馬修服務的「聖佐工程」公司位於孟買,同事詹姆士.喬治說:「在這些宗教慶典期間,有時候大象的狀況不好,可能覺得不舒服,但因沒辦法向人類表達感覺,所以只好作出反應。」
「旁邊的人會向牠射鎮靜針,他們並不想殺死大象,只是要制服牠而已。因為驚慌又害怕,他們往往不只射一、兩針,而是射了三、四、五、六針,造成大象用藥過量。」
馬修的發明則是將一個重六到八公斤的玻璃纖維盒子綁在大象的一隻後腿上。
大象一出現情緒猛烈的跡象時,象夫就可以用遙控器啟動這個由電池供電的裝置,送出裝置內的尼龍束帶,綁住象的另一隻後腿。
該公司的行銷經理喬治對法新社說:「大象是很聰明的動物。牠知道牠動彈不得。這樣就不會在高速衝撞下跌倒,弄傷自己的腿。所以沒有問題。」
喬治說,馬修居住的印度南部喀拉拉邦已開始試用,成效顯著;該邦的大象從事農耕用途。他也說希望該裝置能在印度各地和全世界熱賣。
喬治說,該裝置的售價還未定案,但有報導認為,屆時零售價將是兩萬五千盧比(五百四十美元)左右。
(法新社╱翻譯:袁星塵)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110