Meet Suda, the painting elephant!
Suda is a 4-year-old baby elephant who has the ability to paint a picture of herself.
She shows off her skills at the Maetaeng Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand where people go to watch her and other elephants paint.
Suda has assistance in her painting by her trainer: her ear is nudged everytime she goes to draw another line, and over time she has learned how to paint with extreme precision.
A zoologist named Desmond Morris who traveled to study these painting elephants in Thailand, explained how they paint:
“Let me describe exactly what happens. A painting session begins with three heavy easels being wheeled into position. On each easel a large piece of white card (30in x 20in) has been fixed underneath a strong wooden frame.
Each elephant is positioned in front of her easel and is given a brush loaded with paint by her mahout. He pushes the brush gently into the end of her trunk.
The man then stands to one side of his animal’s neck and watches intently as the brush starts to make lines on the card. Then the empty brush is replaced by another loaded one, and the painting continues until the picture is complete.
The elephant then turns towards its audience, bows deeply and is rewarded with bananas.”
People are able to buy elephants’ paintings, and some of them come at a pretty hefty price tag.
Many may argue that elephant painting is a form of animal cruelty and abuse, similar to that which occurs in a circus, and some of this is probably accurate as elephants probably have to go through difficult training to learn how to paint.
Watching them paint however is absolutely beautiful, and if some of the money from the paintings go to caring for the animals, then it isn’t a lost cause.
Watch the unbelievably video of Suda the elephant painting a picture of herself:
[Featured Image Credit: Screenshot Youtube- FSchleyhahn]