An Elephant Paints A Portrait

 Miss Britt

I didn't cry. But it was pretty cool!  

 blackbird

Because someone is coughing?
Because elephants are not meant to paint portraits?
Because it appears to be a child elephant? Sold into slavery as a portrait painter?

I CAN'T WATCH IT ANYMORE.  

 Colin

I stumbled upon this video a few days ago - you're right, there's something sort of indescribably...off about it. I wish it were a groundbreaking case of elephant sentience, but it's just trained motions, right? I don't know how I feel about that, really.

Strange things.

(I was about to link to a certain YouTube video of a certain Rock Plaza Central song, as an offering of cheer, until I remembered that I found it here in the first place. Whoops. Hee.)  

 seven

That's really interesting. Even if it's just trained to do that, I think it's pretty cool that it has the ability.  

 doppjuice

OMG wow. Thank you. Holy crap. Jeez. Wow.  

 Jen

It didn't make me cry, but lots of animal stories do. We grew up hearing "animal" used as an insult. ("He's an animal.") We think of non-human animals as lower beings, incapable of thoughts and emotions and feelings. And I cry when I encounter examples of animals who clearly show these feelings...they really have many of the same emotions as humans have, but we often fail to recognize it. Think of the dog who stays by the body of his fallen owner. Or elephants who refuse to leave the side of a dying herd member (and will return, year after year, to the site where the other elephant died...often caressing the bones).

As for this video, it left me wondering how much of it is trained behavior. I know that elephants have been saved from poaching in parts of the world because they've been put into refuges, and at some of those refuges the elephants have been given the opportunity to play musical instruments and paint pictures. But I believe that those elephants are doing these things voluntarily....in this video, I wasn't too sure. I'm guessing that this elephant paints this same picture time and time again.  

 KinnicChick

My throat hurts from the emotion I feel after watching it. I choked up after the second brush stroke when I realized the picture was an elephant.  

 Ozma

I wish I could figure that out. It does that to me. I need to think about it some more.

At least part of it is knowing what humans do to each other and animals. But why does this video make me think of that?  

 Leaf, probably...

Why does an elephant painting an elephant make me get all choked up?! I like how the painting looks so happy.  

 jess

I would like very much to look into that elephant's eyes, through to its very soul. It seems so very sad at heart. And my eyes are leaking too. It almost hurts, somehow.  

 TX Poppet

I cried.
So poignant.  

 Emily

I followed all the links and it is a trained behavior, but since the elephants are very intelligent, it's more like an enjoyed hobby for these selected elephants than a forced behavior. They are rewarded by positive reinforcement only, and the paintings are sold online at www.exoticworldgifts.com - profits go to support the elephants. I love that they have set up this system because it gives the elephants a chance to do something fun in the post-logging world (they were formerly elephants used for logging). The paintings and other products are fair-trade imported.  

 k

this made me really sad too, but i can't figure it out! i'm glad to see i'm not the only one who feels that way about it though...i can't put my finger on it but something in this breaks my heart