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Elephant Painting an Elephant

zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifelessin a dry wasteland Veteran
edited August 2012 in General Banter


This video is astounding to me. Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised, everyone knows that elephants are supposed to be very intelligent... But I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that this video makes me think and feel differently about animals. The fact that this elephant is able to imagine in his mind this image and create it, I don't know what to say... I've seen chimpanzees painting before, but it tends to be abstract. I've never seen an other animal do such a clearly defined image. Are animals really so different from you and I?
BoatSsovaPeaceOfMetaiyakiZero

Comments

  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    I LOVE this guy! Elephants are amazing, and this is just mind blowing. Thanks :)
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    No. Not so different from you and I. Apart from the clothes. Which makes most of us just look plain silly. Oh that and the flags we fly. Those are pretty silly too.
  • RebeccaSRebeccaS Veteran
    @TheBeejAbides Apart from the clothes. Which makes most of us just look plain silly.
    I was just looking at the Chanel fall collection and thinking the exact same thing :lol:
    Beej
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    RebeccaS said:

    @TheBeejAbides Apart from the clothes. Which makes most of us just look plain silly.
    I was just looking at the Chanel fall collection and thinking the exact same thing :lol:

    I seriously don't understand runway fashion. They make all of these crazy outfits, but you almost never see anyone wearing them. Lady Gaga and Bjork aside, even most celebrities tend to stick to tamer ensembles.

    But back on topic...this video makes me wonder if maybe we don't give animals enough credit. I've always wondered to what degree they were capable of cognitive thinking.
  • andyrobynandyrobyn Veteran
    On a slightly more disturbing point, I visited Thailand again last year this time with my daughter. She did some research before we travelled and found that the elephants who perform these type of activities for tourists are not doing so spontaneously - rather they are trained and as is visible from the sharp implement in the trainer hand at the beginning of the video, their sensitive ears are often proded and other physically painful stratgies are employed in the training.
    BeejSabre
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    :( That did answer a few questions I had about it...
  • ToshTosh Veteran
    zombiegirl said:

    I've always wondered to what degree they were capable of cognitive thinking.

    My dog will look in the direction of my finger when I point to something. I think that in itself is a massive amount of understanding if you think about the processes involved.

    He also understands 'action and rewards' and sometimes just simply refuses to do something unless he thinks he's going to get something out of it. In this way, it's like he's training us - he's modifying our behaviour - by his actions. I think that's smart.

    When he gets a special treat, he loves to take it somewhere to eat where he will be comfortable. He'll even go looking about the house, checking for open bedroom doors (he loves beds) with the treat in his mouth; he won't eat it till he's satisfied he's found the most comfortable place possible; in a patch of Sunshine if possible. We keep bedroom doors shut!

    Even dogs are smart.


    BeejRebeccaS
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    This is a business developed by Thai monks who had a lot of free time on their hands. I thought it was pretty cool (even knowing the elephants were trained) until I read andyrobyn's post, above, about the sharp jabs to the ears. eww! :(
  • PeaceOfMePeaceOfMe
    to believe I can't even draw a stick person XD
    haha thanks for sharing..this vid is awesome an 2 cute! :]
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    Thank you for this.
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    edited August 2012
    It's the daily mail:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1151283/Can-jumbo-elephants-really-paint--Intrigued-stories-naturalist-Desmond-Morris-set-truth.html

    That said, why not browse:

    http://www.elephantartgallery.com/

    I've seen that dolphins have learnt to respond to a 'create' command - the command is: :om: - a certain group will innovate their own tricks when shown this command.
    It's an innate trait in dogs - even a puppy will do this - a child learns to do it in 2-3 years... a chimpanzee is never able to do it - in a human mind, the notion of 'self' is learnt - it requires various abstract processes that are developed in infancy.

    A lot of current research on the subject - lots of very clever dogs doing very sweet things and teaching us about our brains - current proposition is that dogs evolved with us and evolved traits beyond their canine counterparts so as to better assimilate into our culture and way of life.
    zombiegirl
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited August 2012
    @Zero

    I've seen that dolphins have learnt to respond to a 'create' command
    It just means that if you stop giving us fish we go on strike. :p
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