No doubt, there are countless wonders I haven’t discovered myself out there. Even in something I thought I knew quite well, there are still many wonders hidden within it.
Elephants are one of them.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these magnificent creatures. Despite their massive size, they are sensitive and very gentle. Of course, they are also cute! And... smart. But little did I imagine they could be way smarter than I thought they were!
Suda, the painting elephant
“Jinmen”, the apocalyptic horror manga I read some time ago, shows a scene where an elephant skillfully painted a landscape in front of zoo visitors.
I thought this only happened in made-up stories, until I saw this video appear on my YouTube feed.
This was a real elephant painting! It happened in the real world, precisely at Maetaeng Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, Thailand!
The focused elephant shown painting in the video is named Suda. She's a female elephant.
This video is from 14 years ago when Suda was only 4 years old. Yet, even at that young age, she could draw much better than me!
I’m speechless, period.
How can an elephant draw that well?
When I saw how good Suda is at drawing, I wondered how she does it. Does she think about what she's going to draw, like we do?
I did some research and found out that elephants do have really good memories, and their intelligence is indeed comparable to that of primates.
They can learn to do things that are like what humans do, such as drawing and even writing, through repetition and positive reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement means they won’t be punished if they make a mistake in their painting or if it doesn’t turn out perfect. Their mahout, the person who takes care of them, just has them practice each day until they get better.
When elephants start painting, the results might not look great at first. This was true for Suda too.
At the beginning, she learned how to hold a brush with her trunk. Once she got the hang of it, she figured out how to make brushstrokes on the canvas or paper.
As time passed, when Suda got better at handling the brush, her mahout then helped her know where to put the brush.
If an elephant is a boy and has long tusks, the mahout might use them to gently show the direction, like up, down, left, or right.
And with a girl elephant like Suda, the mahout guides her trunk to help her finish each stroke gently.
They both repeat this activity every day until the elephant gets used to drawing.
Is elephant painting inhumane?
While I was doing my research on how Suda can paint, I came across some sources that express ethical worries about elephants painting.
They believe that making elephants paint to raise funds or to make profits is a form of abuse.
While this might be true in cases where elephants are unlawfully captured and forced to work for profit, when it comes to Suda, these concerns seem somewhat misplaced.
First, Suda was not even captured from the wild. She was born in the camp from parents who were rescued from being made to roam the streets and take up work in illegal logging trade.
And second, to create a painting as amazing as Suda's, the elephant and her mahout must understand each other well.
The video clearly shows that Suda knew what her mahout wanted her to do, without him needing to guide her a lot.
This tells me that Suda really trusts her mahout that she can feel at ease being with him.
Besides, animals don't think like people. They cannot lie. They act in an honest way when they're treated kindly or not, and we can sense this just by watching them.
In the video, Suda didn't seem like she was forced to paint by her mahout. Instead, she seemed relaxed and really enjoyed the painting activity with him. And it felt genuine to me.
All of this, for me, proves that Suda wasn't taught to paint through harsh treatment, but through kindness and care that she’s able to produce such magnificent painting, like this:
Seeing how adorable and intelligent Suda is, I become even more struck by the cruelty of poaching. It robs an innocent life that holds so much untapped potential!
I believe we should learn to treat animals and nature with greater kindness. They have so many surprises to show us that can really brighten our days!