I really felt that this youtube video needed its own thread.
If this is real, (and I believe it is) it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen! It’s almost unbelievable! The elephant may have been trained and initially guided by a human hand, and possibly doesn’t really know what he’s painting, but still…
I liked it. 
Thats absoluteley fantastic. It just seems impossible. It was quite a long video but it was worth watching.
OMG!
That’s amazing! He paints better than Me!
that’s pretty good! how did they train him to do that? can they teach him how to play harmoica?
haha yeah he is a better painter then me to. I was so surprised when he acually knew to put one leg behind the body and stuff like that. It looks like he even does some shading by the front legs. But it makes me wonder how he knows what he looks like from the side. I don’t thing this would be considered a self portrait, because he must be painting a different elephant. That was really cool when he painted the flower to, but I think that the last line that he painted on the trunk ruined it a bit…
that was amazing!! 
!! the best thing about it is that they could try to sell it to some one then agree on a price then say "oh ya it was painted by an elephant.
thats awesome/
Well, an astonishing video. I can see no sign of fraud, although I am not an expert on such videos. If genuine then one would expect to see a number of such videos. It is unlikely the elephant would have been trained as a matter of scientific interest, which leaves the Burmese tourist trade…and the hordes of people with vidicams. Is this a one off video? If so it could well be a fraudulent one. If not I would certainly expect to see many others soon. Did you notice the keeper carrying a picture of some flowers ( I think) walk past part way through? Also see
http://store.exoticworldgifts.com/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Wall%20Art:Paintings
If genuine then it raises a number of questions. Most notably Does Jumbo know what he has painted? Or was he trained to make a copy of another picture, one he may have commited to memory.
Elephants can recognise other elephants as being elephants. What would they do with a motorised robotic life sized elephant model.?..a painted sculpture? a life size photograph? …a 10*8 photograph? …a line drawing showing the outline…similar to the canvas in the video? … the video or just a frame from the Pink Elephant Disney scene?
Great care is needed in interpreting what the video shows and means. It certainly shows a precision of work with the brush, although the versatility of the trunk is already well documented.
Nao
wow thats way cool, elephants are awesome!!! i dont think it would be a self portrait, probably a different elephant, but they can recognise themselves in the mirror!! i think im going to watch that again:D
wow thats way cool, elephants are awesome!!! i dont think it would be a self portrait, probably a different elephant, but they can recognise themselves in the mirror!! i think im going to watch that again:D
Good stuff!
There is a bunch of videos on youtube of the same elephant from different angles and other elephants painting in the same area, there is even one vid where you can see a different elephant paint the flowers that you saw a handler walk by with. I am convinced this is legit.
I would gladly pay $100 for that painting if I saw it being painted by an elephant, I would not pay anything for it if painted by a human.
hahahaha, you beat me
I wonder how much of those $100 would go into the elephant’s bank account.
It was wraping around it.
I would be willing to bet that if an elephant painted a picture that sold for more that any of the other elephant’s paintings then that elephant would be better cared for. They might not directly get the $100 but they would see benefits from it.
A good chunk should go to the trainer/handler to, I have helped train hunting dogs, it is a lot of work, I am sure it is just as hard to train an elephant to paint recognizable pictures as it is to train a Prize 1 hunting dog.