Not sure what to think . . .
Posted by jewel5111 on Apr 14, 2008 · Member since Nov 2006 · 616 posts
So, a friend forwarded me this video today and I'm honestly not sure what to think about it. In the past I probably would have thought the elephant painting a picture was rather clever and says something about animal intelligence.
However, now I question where the elephants are, why they are in captivity and who in the hell taught an elephant to paint.
Anyone else seen this or have thoughts about it? Or am I just really overthinking this?
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=&vid=840d3b2c-9379-4649-85d0-445d4dc1fbde
ha. no, you aren't. i saw it and have the same thoughts.
cons: same as your listed.
pros: showing how smart animals are and that we shouldn't be speciesists. it's too bad it wasn't a cow or chicken painting, maybe that would have given people second thoughts about what they are eating.
I've seen news stories on this--I've also seen the one where they give a bunch of elephants instruments--like drums--and make them play while "researchers" go on and on about how amazing the rythems are--I'm not so sure how i feel abou this--like you guys said, it does show how intelligent they are, but how beneficial is it to introduce these objects to them?
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r239/fly-a-kite/elephants.jpg
I suppose anything that helps make them less bored isn't so bad. I remember the elephant we saw at the San Antonio Zoo that was sort of rocking back and forth and the little girl standing near us kept saying he's dancing. I think that elephants are smart enough to realize that people come to see them do something. They do get very bored in their space even though it's about the size of half a city block and there are "toys" provided for them. It's sad that they are kept in captivity but I can't help but love getting to see them within 30 feet or so of me! I'll never get to go to Africa and watching them on TV just isn't like being within range to hear them "talking" sometimes.
The rocking behavior that TinTexas witnessed is thought to be a symptom of a stress disorder only observed in captive elephants. It makes my heart cry :'( :'( :'(