http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5970310787521844571

This made me misty.

Sadly, this didn't and won't change anything for most people.

My brother thinks they taught him to make those exact moves with the brush and that he doesn't understand what he's doing and what's in the picture :confused::(

Sock puppet? :p

ok you do see the elephant painting. it's just that in the close-ups it really looks like an arm. If it's real, it doesn't matter much if they taught the elephant how to do it. It is still pretty amazing.

My brother thinks they taught him to make those exact moves with the brush and that he doesn't understand what he's doing and what's in the picture :confused::(

Sock puppet? :p

ok you do see the elephant painting. it's just that in the close-ups it really looks like an arm. If it's real, it doesn't matter much if they taught the elephant how to do it. It is still pretty amazing.

ok both these things crossed my mind.
:p

What a clever elephant though.

Does this mean the elephant is self aware? If it does it has massive ramifications with regards to animal rights. Not that anyone will care, after all primates can be taught to use sign language and still no one recognises their rights.

Primates have been demonstrated to be self-aware. They do experiments with putting dots on their foreheads and showing them their reflection in a mirror. I don't remember the exact protocol. They also do these experiments with human babies, and they don't develop self-awareness for a while after birth. I think it's around one year, but i'm too lazy to dig out any old child development textbooks. chimpanzees are at least as smart as three year old children, apparently.

That is incredible. But I can't decide what I feel most: amazed or sad :o

I'm not surprised myself, humans are not much more evolved than chimps.

Does this mean the elephant is self aware? If it does it has massive ramifications with regards to animal rights. Not that anyone will care, after all primates can be taught to use sign language and still no one recognises their rights.

This is bugging me. Some years ago people were positive that babies don't feel pain. Later it was 'Oops, guess they do feel pain after all!'

Now they teach generations of students that animals are incapable of thinking anything else than 'Hungry. Looking for food.' Why are they so confident they're right?

Does this mean the elephant is self aware? If it does it has massive ramifications with regards to animal rights. Not that anyone will care, after all primates can be taught to use sign language and still no one recognises their rights.

they cant make complete thoughts or ideas with sign language. they learn signs like dolphins do, to get what they want. im not taking away from the fact that they're still amazing for using any kind of signal. i wish they were able to use abstract ideas though that would be neat.
those african grey parrots are the smartest animals. they can count and other things. pretty neat.

oh well good thing we dont eat apes and elephants.

oh well good thing we dont eat apes and elephants.

Some people do (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmeat#Effect_on_Great_Apes).

im pretty sure we here do not.

im pretty sure we here do not.

Well, I wasn't sure whether you mean "Homo sapiens" when you said "we".

Some people buy and sell art for millions of pounds, i wouldn't give peanuts for that painting!


hahahaha

good one!

:D

Some people do (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmeat#Effect_on_Great_Apes).

Reading about monkeypox led to reading about smallpox... fascinating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_outbreak_of_smallpox_in_Yugoslavia) :eek:

I love infectious diseases, why aren't I a doctor? Or microbiologist or something :(

Reading about monkeypox led to reading about smallpox... fascinating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_outbreak_of_smallpox_in_Yugoslavia) :eek

No offense to the dead, but that's gotta be the smallest "epidemic" in history. Of course, maybe that's because it was contained effectively.

It must have been so exciting for everyone... with martial law and everything :eek:

Some years ago people were positive that babies don't feel pain. Later it was 'Oops, guess they do feel pain after all!'

Whoever could have thought babies don't feel pain? What's all that crying about when they get stuck with the needle? Or they poke themselves in the eye with their thumb?

Poor little elephant :(

Whoever could have thought babies don't feel pain? What's all that crying about when they get stuck with the needle? Or they poke themselves in the eye with their thumb?

Nobody with common sense would have come up with that idea... only scientists blind to the obvious if it contradicts their theory :rolleyes::mad::mad::mad::(

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=babies+don%27t+feel+pain&btnG=Google+Search

Nobody with common sense would have come up with that idea... only scientists blind to the obvious if it contradicts their theory :rolleyes::mad::mad::mad::(

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=babies+don%27t+feel+pain&btnG=Google+Search

Nah, put quotes around that phrase and then there are only 1770 hits. Aren't circumcisions on newborns still performed without anesthesia?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5970310787521844571

This made me misty.

Sadly, this didn't and won't change anything for most people.
yeah:(
I happened to run into this video last week. (I still need to show my elephant-loving Mom!)
Did anyone else ever see that program about tree-hauling Asian elephants and land mines...where one of them loses a leg and *cries*, then gets a prosthetic? :tears:What. a. trooper.:guitar:

Nah, put quotes around that phrase and then there are only 1770 hits.

I didn't know that!

Aren't circumcisions on newborns still performed without anesthesia?


Circumcisions should be performed on those who perform circumcision on newborns. In case their foreskin is missing, chop off the glans.

Without anesthesia. :mad:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/elephantpainting.asp

snopes.com says the elephant has been trained to paint. I feel sad for these poor creatures.