I am thoroughly moved by how amazing God's creation is. Wow!

Why in the world do we have to abuse animals like this??  This is just disgusting to me.  Why can't animals be animals!  Who knows how they were trained to "paint" - most likely abused, as are all wild animals trained to do stupid tricks.  Think "circus" - horrendous abuse!

Wow

Now we know who painted the cave walls.

Cave Elephants

Seriously, this is really impressive.    The above comment someone made that the painting was done by a Elephant trunk hand puppet is so dense.

Ron

This is something you'd have to see to believe. But assuming this clip is for real, then one could only describe it as astonishing. Animals are much more intelligent creatures than we give them credit for. It just makes you wonder...................

i call hoax, more or  less

so does the internet

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Subject: Elephant paints a self portrait (amazing video)

Is this really true?

www.youtube.com/watch  

Comments: The video is real, but it's important to note that the elephant painting this "self-portrait" -- a male by the name of Paya who resides in the Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand -- has been painstakingly trained to produce this image, and may even be receiving off-camera hand or voice directions from a "mahout," or trainer. As animal expert Vicki Croke explained in a video interview with Newsday Live, "If you put a canvas in Paya's barn and gave him two weeks he would not have painted that elephant. He's been trained to do that."

"Elephant art" has become a popular commodity at zoos and animal compounds in recent years, with some elephant paintings fetching as much as $500. Most of the artworks are best described as "non-representational," however, consisting as they do of random splotches and streaks of color. Sophisticated images such as the one above are less common because they require more training. Another Thai elephant named Hong has produced similar paintings.

For more information, see the Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project website

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Very good coordination between trainer and animal. Both are quite skilled and have a close relationship. I think it is extremely unlikely that the elephant actually understands the meaning of the marks it is making under the trainer's guidance. Having watched this and other elephant painting videos, it is clear that this is not fake, i.e. not a hand puppet. Elephants have very good proprioception in their trunks, moving them with certainty when self-directed, and the closeup shows an uncertainty of movement indicating precise directions coming from the trainer. It would take some subtle tests, which probably have not been done, to determine whether the elephant knows it has drawn an elephant. My guess is that it does not realize this.

The moral aspects of this: this is a well-trained animal, just as a sheep dog (descended from predator species) is well-trained to do something not inherently natural; and a good riding horse, a flight animal, carrying a potential predator on it back, as well.

One hopes that these elephants are humanely trained. I suspect that they are, just judging by the subtlety of the communication required. Many riding horses are very brutally trained, more recently many are very gently trained, with excellent results.

Just to see both sides of this issue (fake or real) I figured out how this elephant painting could be a fake. What

if there was a picture behind the paper the elephant is painting on. And what if that picture were painted with

magnetic paint. And what if there was a magnet inside the elephants' paint brush. Elephants HAVE been trained to paint abstract pictures...THAT'S  something  I can  believe with no problem. So, what if an elephant

starts to do his abstract painting and because of a strong magnet hidden in his paint brush, his brush is drawn

to the picture behind the paper which, as I said, was painted with magnetic paint. You know, like an "Etch a

Sketch" only instead of a magnetic pen bringing metal shavings to the surface to draw a line you have a magnet hidden by bristles being attracted to the painting behind the paper. If the magnet were strong enough

maybe the elephant would just allow his trunk to go with the flow while he's doing his (otherwise) abstract.

I guess this sounds pretty far fetched but it makes more sense to me than an elephant being able to paint an actual picture. I think someone is pullin' your leg. Up to now, abstracts. And now all of a sudden...pictures?

Canary38 - If you just go to YouTube and do a search on "elephants painting", you will have no difficulty finding several videos.

Olin - Watch the vid closely. Yes, it does show the close up most of the time, but there are a couple of "zooms" that do not allow for someone to take over the brush. In addition, how about watching more than one vid - there are others on there that CLEARLY show the elephant doing the painting.

Don't be such a nay-sayer without investigating further; you will come off much better by not being proven wrong.

Apparantly cats can also paint

youtube.com/watch

youtube.com/watch

http://www.monpa.com/wcp/

www.ehow.com/how_2159744_teach-cat-paint.html

Regardless of whether this elephant is a real talent, or whether this is the result of exensive training, Im shocked that so many here are so quick to assume that the animal must be abused, or that the paintings have no value.I'm surprised because the alternative to handing this creature a paint brush it to have him out in the forest, helping in the deforestation process, which is what elephants are traditionally used for in Thailand.I don't know about you guys, but I would rather see them with paintbrushes held in thier trunks, than being prodded with hooks to pull downed trees through the forest.