Animal Person
On Elephants Who Paint

I'm sure by now you've seen the video of the elephant who paints a self-portrait. I did a bit of research as someone told me it wasn't real, and I found nothing to say it wasn't, other than people who point out you never see the entire elephant while she's painting.

I wondered whether the elephant was trained, and if so how, where she lived, and of course, whether her work was being used as a source of cash. Call me skeptical, but I've never seen an animal product that humans didn't find a way to exploit, and I'm sure that elephant and her painting is next in line. I said that to someone recently, and he replied, "Man, you are just not a fan of the homo sapien."

"I'm not a misanthrope," I replied, "I'm just looking at history and making a fairly obvious observation."

Today, I bring you the next in line via "Animal Artwork a Source of Zoo Revenue," by Dinesh Ramde.

Let's deconstruct:

Observe as Ramde, perhaps unwittingly, tells a chilling story . . .
Brittany wields her paintbrush with confidence, slapping it roughly against the canvas to produce streaks of green or smears of orange. With apparent pride, she steps back, inspects her work - and extends her trunk to receive a freshly loaded paintbrush.

Brittany, an African elephant, is doing her small part to pay her way at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Her artwork is sold at the zoo's gift shop to raise funds.

She is in captivity. She has no choice. There is no way her needs can be adequately met by a zoo. And yet she is "doing her small part to pay her way." As if she owes her captors/keepers anything.

Brittany isn't the only animal who paints. There are sea lions, chimpanzees, ocelots and even a Komodo dragon.
For years zoos and aquariums across the country have encouraged animals to paint as a way to keep the penned-up denizens mentally enriched. Typically, the paintings were discarded or set aside.

But officials have recently discovered that animal lovers are willing to pay hundreds - or even thousands - of dollars for the creatures' creations, prompting zoos across the country to study whether their animal artists might be an untapped source of revenue.

Penned-up denizens. An untapped source of revenue.

Ramde reports:
One especially profitable painter is Towan, a 40-year-old orangutan at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. For Valentine's Day, the zoo auctioned a pair of his paintings on eBay for a total of more than $1,300.

Profitable for whom?

And who buys the artwork?
. . . typically animal lovers who know the money is going toward a good cause.

The continued captivity of healthy pachyderms is a good cause.