Elephant paints elephant - not about chickens, but...

jjthink

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Jan 17, 2007
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A good example of the wonders of other beings.
This video is fascinating -nothing bad in it...nobody gets hurt! (hopefully kindness was used in teaching the elephant to do this)

Sad for me, watching this and thinking how smart and feeling these beings are and how much we (humans) have tortured them. Gun shots where it takes them 6 months to die slowly (videos of this seared in my brain), one mourning over another shot and suffering, trying desperately to help it, never leaving its side. I can only hope that people seeing videos like this pleasant one would be more motivated to help elephants somehow.. Forward as you see fit! JJ


Some conservation organizations that are affiliated with helping elephants (these are not live links - just need to google with the name to get there):

The Elephant Project - Born Free Foundation
Friends Of The Asian Elephant
African Wildlife Foundation
Care For The Wild
The Captive Animal´s Protection Society
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust - elephant orphans
The Owens Foundation For Wildlife Conservation
Asian Elephant Habitat Program
The Elephant Sanctuary
Save The Elephants
CITES Watch (organization) on Animal Channel . NET
Living With Elephants Foundation
Friends of the Elephant Foundation
African Elephant Conservation Trust
Elephant Help - Asian Elephant
The Malaysian Elephant Centre at Kuala Gandah
Irish African/Asian Conservation & Wildlife Trust
Living with Elephants Foundation in Botswana

Edited to say: The title of the video was "Elephant Paints Self Portrait" but I'll just call it elephant painting elephant since she's not really painting a self portratit.
 
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I love it! Now, I would love to have that in my home!

We are nature lovers and I hate what many humans do to other animals..But what more do we expect--we even treat our own young and elderly poorly...:mad: Dixie
 
There was a great National Geo article recently about animal intelligence... elephants indeed do have a sense of self, as demonstrated by an elephant looking in the mirror and recognizing himself, and touching a spot painted on his own head....

However, its pretty obvious that these elephants in the video were simply trained to make those drawings , and most likely don't know what it's supposed to represent. Not to diminish the beauty, or how cool that they can be trained to do so, or how intelligent they actually are, but is far from "painting a self portrait" in the sense of putting down on canvas how one sees oneself. I'm pretty sure she does not know she is drawing herself...

I like the chickens BA-GAWKing in the background audio!
 
Very true SeaChick, the amazing thing is not the idea of self portrait - as it's not that - but her ability to be so precise, so willing to do this (hopefully she was gently trained to do this and doesn't mind), her patience, her intelligence. There may be a desire to please and to cooperate - if only we humans gave them the same in return!
I was enjoying the chicken background sounds too!
JJ

(speaking of which, right now my hen is BA-GAWKING MADDDDDDDD!!! - I just locked she and her roo friend up because a hawk was eyeing them from a tree above - such a worry. She is spitting mad - will let them out in a little while if he's gone. But of course he'll be back - I can't get any work done obsessing over them when they are free ranging but she goes absolutely bat _ _ _ t if cooped up too long. She is going to drive the neighbors mad BAWKING to get out - such a dilemma!).
 
That was truly amazing, its sad to think that man would harm such a magnificent creature just for money.
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It's cool, but I also don't think it is a "self portrait". I was at a zoo once where someone was sclupting a gorilla portrait. This young male didn't like being looked at and routinely threw poo at visitors, but that day was different. He was sitting next to the glass, posing and watching the person sculpting him in clay. The artist would periodically turn the bust so that the gorilla could see what she was doing. It was amazing to see. The gorilla clearly had an awareness of what was happening, and that this was a representation of himself. I could have watched it all day. It was one of the most significant and moving interactions between a human and an animal that I had ever seen. It wasn't posed, it wasn't trained, it wasn't conditioned, it just was. Truly amazing!!!
 

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