Elephants don't draw
This has been doing the rounds online, and it makes my skin crawl. It is an elephant "painting a self-portrait".Though I am amazed by the dexterity of the elephant, I am at the same time horrified by the fact that it's being forced to do this. The video appears to be shot in Thailand or somewhere similar. Elephants in Thailand are terribly abused for the entertainment value they provide to tourists. My friend Jen has a good post about that here.
This is not an example of an elephant expressing itself artistically -- the drawing is of a side-view of an elephant, holding a giant flower, of all things. This is an example of an elephant trained (i.e. shouted at, frightened, and hit with sticks) until it could reproduce a sketch made by a human. Other elephants in the video appear to be trained to draw various other things on command. How natural.
Here's a very credulous article from the Daily Mail about the elephant painting phenomenon:
The elephants are taught to paint by a special trainer, who teaches them to hold a brush with their trunks and copy certain objects, including flowers, trees, and even the Thai flag.Again, it's only natural that an elephant would have an urge to draw the Thai flag, isn't it? And that their "special trainer" just helps them do it? Why do you think the elephants memorize the image and do it "over and over again"? Because they want to, for goodness' sake?
Experts believe that the elephants memorize the image which they can then 'paint by rote' over and over again.
What makes the video even worse, for me, is the cooing of tourists in the background, saying things like "isn't that amazing" and "I wonder how much they [the paintings] cost?". Tourism can have many positive effects, but this is one huge negative. Tourists: use your heads. The reason this seems incredible is because it is not credible. Elephants are not people. Though they are very intelligent, elephants are not known to have artistic impulses. Elephants don't draw.
Sure, we've all seen the paintings made by primates in captivity, and they are entertaining -- but they are roughly what you'd expect from a toddler or Jackson Pollock or, for that matter, an animal with opposable thumbs and a few pots of paint; they are abstract splatterings of random colour. Notice that they are not self-portraits, in profile, with flowers. The savannah is not festooned with ancient elephant paintings because, I repeat, elephants don't draw.
Not unless people beat them into doing it.
posted by Andy at 1:33 AM
5 Comments:
thank you for writing this. i haven't been able to watch the video, but i've been telling people about the horrific abuse that goes into "taming" an elephant, and making them perform tricks.
much of training elephants is done by shackling them, shocking them, beating them around the feet and ankles with a stick with a nail in it, or jabbing them behind the ears with a "elephant hook".
it's sickening.
I just saw the video, and all I could think about is the various ways this elephant came to learn this "trick"... Because from my experience living abroad and being exposed to the African wildlife, I knew elephants dont draw like this, especially 3D images of oneself holding a flower. It prompt me to look for some info on the web in regards to elephants abuse: this is how I came to read your article. Thank you for sharing your perception on the subject, it may have validated my fear, but this is reality. It makes me so angry. Animals in those places are often used as puppets to attract tourism. As tourists or expatriates, we need to be extremely vigilant in our response. Marie
Wow I just wrote a blog just like this on multiply. I was livid on a message board where they where in awe of the painting. I was trying to explain the abuse in Thailand and I was told I was wrong. Some one was adamant that the elephants are not abused. People do not use their heads or common sense. People that think this is a beautiful work of art, need to get their heads screwed on tighter. I see nothing amazing or anything beautiful in being abused and broken to complete that painting for tourists.
Err...maybe they just trained it like I train my dog to come and to stay and to roll over.
Yes, because Asian elephants are obviously like your domestic dog.
You can get an elephant to roll over or paint self-portraits by petting his head and saying "good elephant, gooood elephant!". Obviously.
Here's your next challenge: Stick a paintbrush in your dog's mouth and teach it to paint a portrait of the queen. Get back to us with the video whenever you can.
Ta
Post a Comment
<< Home