Elephant paints realistic self portrait

[Lullaby Chainer]

YouTube - Elephant Paints Self Portrait

Freggin insane!!

[another day]

My god that blows me away! I've seen the elephant paintings before, but it was always abstract colours. This is just unbelievable. I always knew elephants were incredibly intelligent. If only we could find some way of really communicating with them, I'd bet we find them coherent and able to communicate thoughts.

I couldn't believe it when he added the eye, and then the flower in his trunk.

I only hope theres no kind of trick going on here.

[Kizzume]

That is amazing. :)

[grandpa]

Quote by: Kizzume That is amazing. :)

Ditto.

Grandpa h.

[Domino]

I think the elephant was drawing porn. It seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the genital region, and had the tail sticking straight up, which I've never seen an elephant tail do. I noticed among the related videos a nearly identical drawing, except the tail was down and it had a penis.

Still amazing, though.

[caphis]

I saw this a few months ago, and did some research on it. It's entirely legit; I found some BBC articles with other similar stories.

It wasn't clear to what extent the elephant was just mimicking what it had been taught, but the addition of the flower was pretty amazing.

Regardless of whether it was abstraction or just imitating what it was taught to do, it's incredible. Elephants are pretty smart creatures, and it's been recently proven that they're one of few animals who have exhibited self-awareness.

Now... where do I get one?

[gela]

this blows my mind.

absolutly amazing.

[lindsay7]

I'm kind of sad that the elephant can draw better than I can..

[Milton Bradley]

Wow, thanks for sharing that video.

[another day]

Quote by: Domino I think the elephant was drawing porn. It seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the genital region, and had the tail sticking straight up, which I've never seen an elephant tail do. I noticed among the related videos a nearly identical drawing, except the tail was down and it had a penis. Still amazing, though.

Lol what is this.. freud for the elephants? he's got trunk envy now does he

[Domino]

Maybe I should open a practice :)

[HelioPrime]

I'm thinking the elephant is only doing what its been taught to do. From the background applause there is clearly an audience.

I'm betting its sort of a tourist draw, they've trained the elephant just seals and dolphins to perform a trick. In this case its to paint an image for an expected treat.

[caphis]

Quote by: HelioPrime I'm thinking the elephant is only doing what its been taught to do. From the background applause there is clearly an audience. I'm betting its sort of a tourist draw, they've trained the elephant just seals and dolphins to perform a trick. In this case its to paint an image for an expected treat.

Yeah, but you have to admit, it's still pretty impressive. Who knew that elephants had such potential?

[Nono]

Yes, it's gotta be, say, northern Thailand, and the whole thing is a tourist show. So?

Even if the elephant learned the whole business by rote, that suggests astounding mental capacity, a fact about elephants we seem to have missed.

[Gods_Mercenary]

How did we miss it? The old adage Elephants never forget, for example.

[HelioPrime]

Quote by: Nono Yes, it's gotta be, say, northern Thailand, and the whole thing is a tourist show. So? Even if the elephant learned the whole business by rote, that suggests astounding mental capacity, a fact about elephants we seem to have missed.

So they that have a higher capacity that the average beast, they're still not human, so?

[Domino]

Do you care how smart they are, or are you simply enamored of the human form? Would it matter, to you, if it started playing music, solving equations, writing poetry... ?

[Nono]

If this video is genuine, it challenges the gulf that we fancy separates us from the "animal world". Why is that again that we don't find any human in the meat section of the supermarket??

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Nono If this video is genuine, it challenges the gulf that we fancy separates us from the "animal world". Why is that again that we don't find any human in the meat section of the supermarket??

Bleeding Heart Liberals.

[Nono]

I sent this link to a friend who is very knowledgeable about wildlife (and 'tamelife'). Every year he spends his holidays taking part in zoological surveys on behalf of the organization Earthwatch.
This is what he replied:

"I think the elephant painting is false. Not that I have anything against
elephants at all; it's just that these pictures are based in our culture.
There are many ways to portray 3-dimensional reality in a 2-dimensional
medium, and there is no reason to expect Asian elephants to do it the way we do, unless they were taught to. Even then, there is no reason to expect a self-portrait from an animal who has not been proven to recognize itself in a mirror.

I would guess that this elephant was taught how to do brush strokes one at a time, and that the "aritst" has no knowledge of the final result. Asian
elephants do all sorts of things for us.

That said, I just want to point out that I have the utmost respect and
admiration for elephants. Lynn and I have interacted with these amazing
creatures in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and we have always nodded our heads in gratitude for their forbearance and grace. I will not bore you with our many stories, but African elephants have always shown themselves to use their primary stature with tolerance and, dare I say it, humor.

In 1993, our Botswanan guide asked what animal we wanted to see once again on our last day in the bush, and we both said elephant. Pilotwe smiled, and we spent the afternoon watching a small herd silently foraging a thicket, with the younger females guiding the ancient blind matriarch's trunk toward the best leaves. I have never seen a better example of communal living, and I have never seen humans do a better job than elephants at living our lives.

Well, they don't paint, I guess."