Animals that Know How to Paint

While we may be accustomed to thinking that man is the only self aware animal with a truly conscious appreciation of the world around us, evidence from the scientific community continues to pour in that is to the contrary. Seemingly everywhere we look, we are finding animals that show signs of being aware of themselves and have the ability to learn about the world around them in a manner that goes well beyond instinct or simply learning by rote. One of the more intriguing and touching examples of such higher thinking comes in the form of animals that can be taught how to paint.

Koko and Michael

Probably the best known animal artists are the gorillas Koko and Michael, two lowland gorillas that live under the care of biologist Francine "Penny" Patterson in California. Koko is best known for being the most fluent gorilla to date in communicating through sign language. Both Koko and Michael have taken to painting with acrylics over the years and have produced both realistic and abstract works of art that they have been able to name themselves, such as "Me, Myself, Good" "Bird" and "Apple Chase," a portrait that Michael produced of his dog, Apple. "Apple Chase" was painted entirely by memory by Michael without his dog present, and he chose the correct colors for the animal's coat despite a wide variety of paints being available.

Painting Elephants

Less known to many are the painting elephants of the world. At a private elephant camp in Thailand, there are elephants who are able to paint portraits of fellow elephants and other realistic shapes that are astonishingly realistic. While elephants do not have the opposable thumbs that primates use for manipulating tools such as paint brushes, the tips of their trunks are equipped with a complex set of muscles that allow them to grasp and maneuver with astonishing dexterity. It is these muscles that allow the painting elephants to manipulate the paintbrush with all of the dexterity of a beginning artist, even to the point that they paint bolder lines for areas of shadow and lighter lines for areas that should not be shadowed. Unlike Koko and Michael, painting elephants do their work with the constant coaching and encouragement of their trainers and do not seem to be abstractly choosing their subject matter and palette on their own. Outside of Thailand, other elephants have been shown to be able to produce paintings, such as Ruby of the Phoenix Zoo.

Other Animal Artists

While other animals have been reported as being able to paint, the validity of whether they could be described as actually consciously painting is generally more controversial. For instance, the story of Cholla, a horse that could painting, was generally met with incredulity and questions as to whether the animal had any idea what it was doing. On the other hand, gallery exhibits featuring paintings produced by chimpanzees were generally reviewed as being very pleasing to the eye and raised the question of whether the animals possessed some sort of innate aesthetic sense. This unanswered question goes to heart of the issue of animal artists, as the presence of such a conscious awareness suggests that we are not alone in our ability to appreciate and think about the world around us in a complex and conscious way. It also would suggest a moral imperative that we adjust the way we treat that animals that share our world.

Sources:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/17/cholla-the-horse-pai.html

http://www.noob.us/entertainment/an-elephant-that-can-paint-elephants/

http://www.koko.org/world/art_portraits.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_%28elephant%29

http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=74