Humans pride themselves on what they think is a unique ability to consciously produce sophisticated art, music and literature . But chimps and elephants paint images, and this video from Japan is claimed to be the first showing a baby elephant being "taught" to paint by its parents. Shot at the Ichihara Elephant Kingdom near Tokyo, it shows one-year-old Yumeka adding the finishing touches to what appears to be a flower. The zoo manager says that although many elephants have been taught to paint by humans, Yumeka began to show talent for painting without training. But the big question remains: are the elephants consciously attempting to reproduce a remembered image of an object, or just prodding a paintbrush randomly onto a canvas to receive a reward, in this case a shower? Elephants certainly show a range of intelligent behaviour and even emotions. Along with gorillas, chimpanzees and other great apes, for example, elephants appear to have "theory of mind" , the knowledge that other creatures are sentient and capable of thinking for themselves. They even appear to grieve for the dead , showing a greater interest in elephant skulls, for example, than in skulls of other animals. Since they recognise their own reflection in a mirror, they have self-awareness. But do they have enough savvy, memory of objects and coordination to consciously paint pre-selected pictures? It is just about accepted that chimps can paint pictures, and an ex ...
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