Elephant paints self portrait

I recently read this from another person's site:

"Unfortunately this elephant is not painting this picture on his own. The elephant’s trainer is standing right next to him, pulling on his ear the entire time guiding the elephant's trunk. I was just in Chiang Mai Thailand, at this very camp, watching this elephant having its ear tugged relentlessly.

As for the hooks used to control these elephants, they really do cause a great deal of harm. Several of these elephants had gashes on their foreheads from being bashed by their trainers’ hooks. In fact, one trainer was sitting on his elephants head and using his legs to cover the elephant’s forehead. He unintentionally moved his legs at one point accidentally revealing the injuries he had inflicted on his elephant. Its head was covered in blood and gashes.

I really hope the Thai government does something to protect these helpless yet magnificent animals."

No matter how amazing this is - and I do think the act itself is amazing - I'd rather have an elephant running freely in the wild than one who has been trained to do human activities. I wish people would appreciate animals for being animals and not only appreciate them when they do things that are human-like.

This elephant was definitely trained in some way, and his/her art provides a profit for the trainers, so it is important that no one purchase these paintings until they can determine without question that these animals are trained in a humane way.

It is very true that the disgusting things in some of the above posts are still common place in much of the world (Livia Colare's being the most disturbing), but there are also those who do not use cruelty, pain, or negativity to train elephants.

Not saying the trainers in this particular video use one method or the other, but I doubt they're using the traditional/brutal methods of Thailand. Not knowing for sure at the moment, I'd give these folks the benefit of the doubt, for positive thinking's sake if nothing else.

The trembling trunk could be fear, or it could be the fact that the elephant just hasn't yet grown 100% confident/ skilled in using a tool with its trunk.

It's hard for me to look at this video the same anymore, after seeing Livia Colare's link. How can one know if the elephants that are tortured are not the same ones who do the paintings?

puts that first trembling brush stroke into a whole new light.

I don't like to think they'd be tortured in a facility like that, and the tourists definitely wouldn't know about it.
There are plenty of elephant training methods that rely on positive reinforcement, and involve no pain whatsoever.

But damn, that's an awesome clip. Whether the elephant was trained, or if he/she learned to do that creatively, using the training the keepers provided, it's amazing. Makes me look at these intelligent beasties with a whole new level of respect.
(I start drawing faces with the nose as well)

Livia Colare's video (see above link) exposes a possible ugliness of this seemingly pleasant scenario.

Are the elephants who paint portraits tortured and conditioned to do so? If so, do the tourists know this?

Please check this:

http://current.com/items/88882706_elephant_training_torture_in_thailand

That's awesome!

chet_arthur, Some say he was. They say he wasn't a true surrealist because he thought out his paintings, rather than just painting them on the spot.

This should be the animal of the year!
Great viral!!!

umm that picture sucks ya'll! i mean seriously!! elephant art, like childrens art....sucks. needs to go back to elephant art school! maybe touch up on his skills. he is holding the brush to close to the paper....if he knew anything, he'd know that if he holds it further away, and more steady, it will come out looking nicer.

this elephant is definitely not a professional!

I'm speechless

Amazing! Nature is full of surprises...

Simply incredible. I loved elephants before seeing this and this just deepens my fascination of them.

i knew elephants were intelligent, but this is amazing!

I also find it fascinating that he started with his nose. That's how I start my drawings of faces too!!

No matter how it was accomplished...
It's an elephant painting an elephant holding a flower!
Life just can't be more cool than that.
Watch it all the way through to get to other vids on this gifted mammal. Too much fun.

according to the blurb on the youtube page, the tourism that this draws secures sanctuary for the animals. But i'm sure the keepers get something out of it too.

I think he knows what he's doing. It was said in my anthro class that humans are the only ones who understand 2-dimensional representation. but i dont think so.

as an artist, i would love to think that elephants possess artistic autonomy. however, stephenthomson, unfortunately, i believe the former of your comment. i don't have much faith in humanity that i believe that they would encourage intelligent and artistic behavior without first searching for individual gain. --i'm sure that the elephant's guards/trainers are getting a lot of publicity b/c of this.

Has the elephant been conditioned to recreate a certain pattern? Or is he knowingly painting his own self portrait? Either way it shows a great deal of intelligence. I want to hug him!

My God how we've underestimated the intelligence and understanding of all of our creatures. Amazing.

man you really can find viral's faster than me...

oh my god.

and the elephant can paint better than me...sad