Palace door, built for protection from War Elephants in Orcha India
Saturday, October 2, 2010
War Elephants
War Elephants of Nader shah's war painter on a wall of the main hall of the Chel Sotoun palace in Isfahan.
War Elephants
War Elephant bias relief wall panel from Chittorgarth, India above, and Hampi, India below
War Elephants--758th Tank Battalion (Light)
This was the first tank battalion in American history organized with black soldiers. A 758th soldier designed the regimental crest--the rampant head of a black African elephant symbolizing the soldier's pride in their heritage and their unit's mission of mobile armored warfare. In 1949, the 758th Tank Battalion was redesignated the 64th Heavy Tank Battalion. Today, every 64th soldier wears that same crest which is prominently displayed on the unit colors with the motto "We Pierce". It is also known as the "Tusker" regiment.
Stratford Armories
I have read about and studied "War Elephant" history quite extensively over the years. Having dealt with elephants, the concept of looking across a field at 100's of them dressed in armor had to be the most frightening thing for your enemy. I just can't wrap my brain around the skill and courage it must have taken to ride one into battle, and keep control of them when the "shit hit's the fan", no matter how much I read and study on the subject. The fact that they predominantly used males is ever more mystifying. For me it is almost a made up history lesson, and if not for the armor we can see today in museums, I would not believe it was possible long ago. Truly unbelievable.
Elephant Armor--Stratford Armories
Life-sized armored Indian Battle Elephant seen at Stratford Armories.
Leeds Elephant Armor--1600
This must be what the museum means when they state, "the worlds only, almost complete set of armor from this period," as there seems to be a hip piece gone.
For Anonymous--Tower of London Elephant Armor--1986
In the elephant post below, I wondered to myself at Leed's claim to having the "only complete armor like it in the world," as it exactly like the set I knew was at the Tower of London. Was it only at the Tower on a "temporary" exhibit? How did Leed's acquire it?
Keller Breland's IQ Zoo--Zoo of Yesterday
Keller Breland 1960
Founded in 1955, the IQ Zoo of Hot Springs (Garland County) allowed visitors to view animals in their natural habitats and watch them perform trained behaviors that showcased the psychological concept known as operant conditioning. The zoo, at 380 Whittington Avenue, became a destination for tourists seeking entertainment but also attracted the attention of companies such as General Mills and Walt Disney Enterprises, which were eager to market the animal performances. The IQ Zoo is the first known attraction of this type, though other tourist attractions have been based on the IQ Zoo model.
IQ Zoo founders Keller and Marian Breland met while working under renowned psychologist B. F. Skinner in the early 1940s. During World War II, the Brelands and Skinner worked on a project that trained pigeons to guide missiles. After the war, in 1950, the Brelands moved to Hot Springs to build a training center for their fledgling company, Animal Behavior Enterprises, Inc., the purpose of which was to train animals to be used in the entertainment industry. In 1955, they founded the IQ Zoo to show the public the accomplishments that had been made in behavioral psychology and to showcase some of Animal Behavior Enterprises’s successful training programs. Individual exhibits charged between five cents and twenty-five cents per play, although the Brelands occasionally opened the Zoo freely to the public.
The zoo had common animals, such as chickens, pigs, ducks, cats, dogs, and raccoons, performing short trained acts that demonstrated how animals could learn certain behaviors through repetition and reward. One popular demonstration featured a raccoon named Rufus who, when prompted by a light, would drop a small basketball through a hoop and count the number of baskets, returning to the back of the cage to accept his reward only after achieving four successful attempts. Another popular exhibit involved a chicken named Casey who would peck at a small baseball bat to “hit a home run” in a small controlled baseball field. After getting a hit, Casey would round the bases in the correct order and receive an edible reward. The behavior of the Brelands’ animals exhibited the training methods used in their conditioning, none of which involved punishment. The behaviors were reinforced by means of reward. Most exhibits were mechanical in design, relying on little or no human interaction once the animals were trained. The zoo quickly became one of the top tourist attractions in Hot Springs, and the Brelands’ trained animals appeared on several network television shows, including The Jack Paar Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Garry Moore Show, and Wild Kingdom. IQ Zoo animals were also featured in Life, Time, Reader’s Digest, True, Popular Mechanics, and other nationally circulated magazines.
Keller Breland died in June 1965, and Marian took control of the firm. She married Bob Bailey in 1976, and the IQ Zoo stayed open until 1990. Marion Breland Bailey died in September 2001. In 2004, Bob Bailey donated one of the mechanized training boxes known as the “Bird Brains” exhibit to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC to add to its animal behavior exhibit.
Keller Breland's IQ Zoo--Zoo of Yesterday
1955
Keller sold an animal conditioning booklet, advertised in the back of a Mutual of Omaha comic book, which I purchased, I think in 63 or 64 for .25 plus shipping and handling. I used the same methods he wrote about in 1991 when I trained the pig show at the Toronto Zoo, including teaching the pig AC to carry soda cans/bottles to a recycling bin and dropping them.
Keller Breland's IQ Zoo--Zoo of Yesterday
1955
1960
Note the change in coin/token boxes from1955 to 1960
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