(February 5, 2014 at 1:58 pm)whateverist Wrote: http://youtu.be/oAvJElLFAEQ
There are a number of these youtube videos out of Thailand. I'm not sure if more than one elephant is so talented. It is obviously something trained but .. WOW!
The elephants we have at the Oregon Zoo paint. Granted, their work is more impressionistic...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KW5y7SmQq4
I've watched Rama painting before, and I think they let the chimps paint, too. The Oregon Zoo does it to keep the animals interested and engaged so they don't get bored, depressed or destructive.
There is definitely an aspect of training to it (holding the brush, commands to paint, to blow in Rama's case) but what they paint is up to them. I don't know how they get the elephants in Thailand to paint representational work, that's kind of amazing and is probably a result of lots of training.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
