Comments on: The Elephant Artist

By: modartist

modartist — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:16:29 +0000

I followed up your references Chip and Lucy. thanks for that. I’m an artist and have long been skeptical about these ‘self portraits’ and other so called art coming out of Thailand. The Elephant Art Gallery (TEAG)link you gave is the only genuine one where I could find the real story and then I googled it and came up with THIS absolutely brilliant expose of the self portrait myth that is an interview with the owner and founder of TEAG.

They explain why that stuff is “crap” but that elephants can paint using their own volition (which is quite different). Most interesting from an artist’s perspective and really well written by people who have worked with elephant artists for ten years apparently.

Go to http://www.inklessmagazine.com. Long interview – see the answer to the question “What is elephant art”. Very revealing. I’m sold!

By: Alephant

Alephant — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:48:53 +0000

This really hits home how unfairly elephants are treated given their intelligence, ironically by showing them enslaved and in captivity!

By: Luna

Luna — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:49:20 +0000

Wow Chip,

You really know your animals. An elephant on LSD…that’s a scary thought!

Have you seen the Avian Einsteins video? Its pretty extraordinary to see the true potential of these normally underrated animals…http://www.brainwaving.com/2009/11/25/avian-einsteins/

By: Chip Steinmetz

Chip Steinmetz — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:02:27 +0000

Elephants recognize themselves in mirrors:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mirror-elephant.html
http://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/pdf_attachments/PlotniketalPNAS.pdf
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/45/17053/suppl/DC1 <=== with videos

Earlier studies by John Lilly suggest the same is true with Dolphins and replications have also been done with (certian) primates.

Siamese Fighting Fish might seem to display self-recognition, but probably not:

http://www.sacredheart.edu/download/350_sample2.doc

However Octopus might indeed recognize themselves (my own frequent scuba diving observation as well):

http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/smarts.php

Regarding elephant art and possibly reenforcing Victoria's lovely work:

http://www.elephantartgallery.com

Lucy and I played with painting elephants in Northern Thailand. Indeed these are amazing creations. One painting recently sold for more than $1m via Christies.

But we fear these works are a case of Clever Hans:

http://www.skeptics.org.uk/article.php?dir=articles&article=clever_hans.php

Here's photo's whereby both Lucy and I derived such a conclusion:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=cannon.lucy&target=ALBUM&id=5408693870513899569&authkey=Gv1sRgCOjs98zqzZDgTQ&feat=email

Finally, and perhaps more controversially, in 1962 an elephant may have died from respiratory arrest after a massive LSD injection … or maybe not:

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_history4.shtml

Chip and Lucy

By: Twitted by fleming77

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By: Twitted by brainwaving

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By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:15:22 +0000

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