An elephant that paints

Tuesday, November 25, 2008


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84 comentarii:

Anonymous said...

Have seen it doing it in a movie, but it was in black and white... might have been fake, but looked authentic

Anonymous said...

no way... i have seen elephants paint but it never looks like anything.. this cant be real

Anonymous said...

I recently visited Thailand and I assure you this is 100% real. Saw it with my own eyes. Elephants are incredibly smart.

Anonymous said...

Elephants are colour blind. There's a guy holding on to the elephant's ear, the elephant is trained to respond to his tugs and pushes telling it what brush to pick up and what to do with it. You can train a dog to howl to music, that doesn't mean it can sing.

Elephants are smart, no doubt, but this is a trick. Also - those squiggles are Thai letters. Think elephants can use language too?

Anonymous said...

This is real. I've been to this place, its amazing.

Grace said...

this is the elephant camp! in chiang mai i believe... I bought one of the elephants pictures.. its beautiful!

iMark said...

I have been to this place and it is real. The men dip the paint brush in different colors for the elephant but the elephant does all of the painting and hands the brush to the helper when it needs more paint. It is so cool to watch!!

Anonymous said...

It's real. I saw it documented in Curious George. SooBerm the painting elephant.

Anonymous said...

Shopped. You can tell by the pixels

Anonymous said...

Two words: Clever Hans

Anonymous said...

I suppose the elephants have mastered the thai language too since it's featured in some of the paintings?

Anonymous said...

It's not photoshopped or fake. It's real. I saw a video of an elephant drawing an elephant holding a flower. They are smart.

Anonymous said...

so is it safe to assume that since it took modern humans ages and ages to learn to create art that was representational that these elephants are borderline intelligent (on a grand scale)? And I'd also like to know how often these elephants create art when not provoked to do so.

Anonymous said...

yah the elephants are painted too. real cute. they have patches of purple all over their heads, but it's not paint, it's antibiotic ointment. the handlers beat the elephants so severely, with a spiked metal club, that copious amounts of purple cream are used as cover up. but such is the price ya gotta pay so that ignorant tourists can have a picture painted by an elephant, right?

Anonymous said...

uhhhh yeah.... these are NOT photoshopped, but i know what's really happening here: from this angle, you can't clearly see that the elephant is being commanded by his handler - he is standing to the side of the elephant, very close, and actually has a hand on its ear; the handler picks the appropriate color for the elephant, and then by stroking the animal's ear, commands it to put the brush in the appropriate place for the pre-ordained image that it will be painting.

Brian Wells said...

Nah, not photoshopped... I have heard of this before.. At our local zoo here in Toledo, we have a elephant that does this. They are better at painting then I am.

Anonymous said...

Leave the damn elephants alone. This is just inane.

Carole Terwilliger Meyers said...

You want a movie, here's a movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu9G30Pk6Nc


http://www.travelswithcarole.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Yeah, cool, but not "real". It's just a trained elephant responding to tugs from the guy standing next to him/her.

Nightbrewer said...

I've seen this live in person in Thailand. Yes it real and yes these are painted by elephants without assistance but they do have a lot of training. The paintings shown here are some of the better ones. It took the elephants about 10 mins to paint the whole thing. They all painted the same thing. Very little variation.

Anonymous said...

my grandfather lives in thailand and brings us here enery time we visit. last time we went we watched them play soccer and pait paintings. most of them were of flowers. this is completely real and the people dont even touch them.

Anonymous said...

okay listen, elephant can do this w/o the commandments of trainers... there are othe places that train them... and whoevers being an asshole saying that it took humans centuries and how could it be possible elephants are this smart, you are simply ignorant. elephants could quite possibly be smarter than humans, theyve been around longer and just because they dont speak our language or create tools of convenience that destroy their environment does not mean that they are stupid, i think it says a little more about our own collective level of intelligence.

Anonymous said...

why are some of you people so negative ??
anyway - this is'nt very hard to figure out - Yes the elephants are really painting - has anyone heard the old saying an elephant never forgets??
An artist shows the elephant how to draw the picture by moving his trunk with brush on the paper. When the canvas is placed infront of the elephant it knows what to draw.

Anonymous said...

Actually the pictures were taken by another elephant.

Anonymous said...

lol. This is as real as the tooth fairy.

Anonymous said...

It may look cool, and yes, it's real, but these elephants are put through a horrific training program that nearly all Asian Elephants go through.
Basically, they cage the elephants up and brutally hit and cut them until their spirit breaks and they do as they're trained.

for more information: http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org

Please don't support these practices.

Anonymous said...

yea im sure this is what a wild elephant would do with his spare time... this elephants spells $$$$$$$$$ with that paint brush

Anonymous said...

It's real, but the person above me is right..

Anonymous said...

It's real whether or not the handler is tugging or pulling on his ear. It's still the elephant doing it.

James Kauer said...

In doing more research on the subject, elephants have indeed been selling painting to fund zoos in places like the UK and USA. No Elephant has ever been found to truly paint a landscape, tree, or recognizable object, but have been paint abstract pictures that are pleasing to human artists, but not on this complicated level. Even Chimps and other primates have only been known to color in the lines of coloring books, being the most complicated artistic accomplishment of any animal.

Anonymous said...

In doing more research on the subject, elephants have indeed been selling painting to fund zoos in places like the UK and USA. No Elephant has ever been found to truly paint a landscape, tree, or recognizable object, but have been painting abstract pictures that are pleasing to human artists, but not on this complicated level. Even Chimps and other primates have only been known to color in the lines of coloring books, being the most complicated artistic accomplishment of any animal.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I've seen videos of the elephants painting, you can find them on youtube. They ARE trained to paint certain things, but when you watch the video, you can see them think about where to put the paint, how much pressure to use.. just like watching a human artist paint. They really know what they're painting a picture of.

Anonymous said...

This is fake. Look at the first picture, there's a line going straight up. The second picture is different, the line is curved instead of straight

Anonymous said...

lame.. if the elephant painted that shit on its own.. maybe it would be worth somehting.. but its trained.. probably would be better off just having the trainer paint it

Arielle Vakni said...

I worked on that elephant conservation and witnessed this with my own eyes. Elephants are amazing creatures.

Anonymous said...

these elephants are clearly trained to paint representational objects. I've looked at elephant paintings in the past - the abstract ones - yes the elephant is still taught how to hold the brush, how to dip it in the paint and apply to the canvas, and not to eat it etc.. but those abstract paintings seem a lot more true to me. even more beautiful. the elephant is playing in the medium, not being taught vigorously to paint a representational object just to wow a few ignorant people.

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biotv said...

^^
spam fail

Anonymous said...

how do the elephants know thai???

Declare Australia For Jesus, Acts 2:38 said...

thats one smart elephant

Anonymous said...

LOL this is so obviously shopped.

Anonymous said...

Thais are generally not big people; in fact they are quite small.
If you look very carefully, and you must have real good eyes for this, you can see that at the end of the elephant's brush there is a very small man who is actually doing the painting.
So there you are, not shopped at all!

Anonymous said...

actually, he isn't really choosing what he paints. the kid next to him guides him by tugging on his ear; the elephant is "painting," if that's what you want to call it.. Elephants DO have a sense of self though (they recognize themselves in a mirror) and that is pretty cool. :D

SCIENCE!

Anonymous said...

I like how there is a chain around its neck.

blackwingbear said...

Actually, elephants have known how to paint for centuries... They once taught the skill to humans.. They secretly know every skill we do, much like the dolphins or white-mice - but pretend that they don't in order to observe us observing them. All of the cruelty they have suffered is part of an immense scheme to see the slow painfully long evolution of the human-species.

Anonymous said...

I've seen this before in colour.

Anonymous said...

He's better than me.

Anonymous said...

I hope that this is fake/shopped.. a elephant painting makes no sense and just shows how we want to humanise animals, decadent...

Anonymous said...

The elephants are painting based on what they have been taught to paint. The paintings are sold for money that is being raised for their conservation.

mattybug04 said...

I saw the elephants paint this picture with my own eyes. They are trained to paint one picture type at a time. The older the elephant the more complicated the paintings are. One paints a panda, just like a child would. This picture is from Maesa Elelphant camp near Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand.Didn't watch the videos so can't tell if THEY are fake but I saw this happen, with my family.

eleanor said...

I just wanted to contribute that this is actually a charitable effort for an important cause. Paintings are sold to raise money and awareness to save diminishing elephant populations. I love elephants, so programs like these are really important to me. It is very real!

Here is a link to more information:
http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/splash.php

Anonymous said...

Why is it so hard to believe that animals are intelligent?

Anonymous said...

This is real. 90% of the people here are trolls anyways. You can catch this on video on youtube or google video just type in keywords 'elephant' 'paint'

Marky said...

interesting and impressive. very well trained. Its misleading though, it creates the impression the the elephant knows what its doing. ie. depicting a visual representation of a tree.. This is likely beyond their capacity. It just knows that if it moves its trunk here and there it gets a treat.

Anonymous said...

So just because these elephants are only repeating what they've learned, it's not at all impressive that elephants are able to fucking paint!?! Have you ever seen any other animal do something as human as this, because I sure haven't.

Anonymous said...

Elephant camp in chaing mai! Incredible. Wish i bought the painting, but i needed money for buckets

Jar(egg)head said...

If believe this, I want to talk with you about a lovely bridge I have available for a great discount.

Black Leaf Bongs said...

Just goes to show humans aren't the only artists in this world! :D

Soft Paws said...

I live in Calgary and we have an elephant that likes to paint in our local zoo too. The one on pictures is much more talented I must say :)

Anonymous said...

i know this elephant. it is related to my mother... it definitely can paint! its how it supports my family... we so poor

Anonymous said...

I hope no violence or imposing of humans upon elephants were used for the making of this.

If indeed the elephants enjoyed in the making of it, fine, if not, it should be banned.

There are far more places to dig cool stuff and art than the use of violence towards animals

Anonymous said...

the elephants trainers put their hand behind the elephants ear. when they move their hand right the elephants trunk moves right, when they move their hand left the elephants trunk moves left, etc. this is NOT FAKE! elephants are actually very intelligent animals!

Anonymous said...

he paints better than me -_-

Anonymous said...

I'm a painting elephant and I'm offended by your comments.

Anonymous said...

I can only imagine how horrible training these elephants have got. Why would any animal paint real objects that are considered to be art subjects for humans? They do exactly what typical tourists like and would pay for. Abstract painting is much more creative, children do that until they are taught to paint symbols that are important in human society. But elephants don't have human culture or understanding and that's why painting trees and writing is not their expression. I really hope that people are smart enough not to support torture (or "training") of those elephants.

Anonymous said...

of corse they are trained,, that doesnt make it any less amazing. and most of these programs are used to raise money FOR the eliphants, not to rip people off

ALISSON said...

This is real, I live in Bangkok Thailand for 6 years and I've seen many elephants trained to paint like this. However, its quite sad becuase if the elephant does something wrong the owner just beats it up until it does it right,....

Storm Brewer said...

I used to go to Woodland Park Zoo all the time when I was younger, literally whenever I could convince my mom to take me.

I remember these elephants painted too, and you could watch them from behind glass in this room with easels. very cool, I bet elephants dream too.

Nepal Tour Package said...

Amazing JUMBO can you paint yourself

Anonymous said...

the men standing beside these elephants guide their brush strokes by holding onto the elephants ears or tusks.

they are also beating them behind the scenes and depriving them of everything that nature intended them to have.

this is a scheme for your money,
if you want to aid in harming these beautiful creatures then go right ahead and waste your money for maybe an hour of entertainment that funds more and more cruelty, but i hope karma comes back to bite you in the ass one day.

fajas colombianas said...

I still cant believe that an elephant can do this. I mean, aren't they colorblind?

jocuri said...

Damn...I'm worse than an elephant at painting.....

Anonymous said...

humans have to be taught to hold a paintbrush too. In fact everything we learn is from copying others until we are old enough to begin thinking for ourselves...and even then we are regurgitating things that we may or may not remember experiencing. It is ignorant to believe that other animals are capable of something as simple as this. We are not kings in this world.

Anonymous said...

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1e36JW

heres the video for the non-believers

Anonymous said...

This is real, but how painting works with an elephant is that a man stands by the elephant and gives it a signal (pull its ear, brush itd back) simple signals that tell the elephant what todo, (notice that when the elephant is painting u can not see the right side) problem solved

Unknown said...

Video or it didn't happen

Anonymous said...

is it sad that this elephant can paint better than I can?

Anonymous said...

i absolutely loveeee <3

Anonymous said...

its sad that there are so few believers out there. this is beautiful. elephants are amazing creatures. very peaceful, loving affectionate, and very very smart. there is no doubt in my mind that this is authentic.

-Breezy

Anonymous said...

There are videos on YouTube showing elephants really drawing!

C. said...

Some guy said there was a guy tugging on its ear because thats how its trained to know what to paint. Now even if thats so then that animal has amazing memory capabilities and it's just as cool.

Anonymous said...

There's a lot of comments here and while I don't want to take away from this elephants accomplishments, realistically through conditioning (be it positive or negative) animals can master quite a few feats they normally would not be able to. This is all due to human intervention though. It's merely reproducing an action that warrants a reward or keeps it from being punished. A few have said humans are the sameway, however while operant conditioning could be applied to humans, we act in ways that go beyond that. To borrow what someone else said "human's have to be taught to use a paintbrush too", true, but the ability to paint or produce artwork isn't always taught, unless you believe Paccasso learned from some other artist, who in turn learned from someone else, but eventually there has to be a source. This elephants source is his trainer, and that is what makes the difference.

Anonymous said...

okay an elephant is painting a tree...how about the fact that elephants are red-green colour blind? Dolphins paint as well..and they are completely colour blind...seals are colorblind too...it is funny how humans can easily be fooled by everything

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