What's Unusual About This Painting?

[Virgil Showlion]

As cut out of a video clip, what would you say is unusual about this painting of an elephant?



All guesses are welcome.

[mollyanna58]

SPOILER: Click to show

I'm guessing it was painted by an elephant.

[Jaguar]

I seen this so I won't say anything.

[Apple]

Feb 16, 2014 22:37:26 GMT -5 mollyanna58 said:

SPOILER: Click to show

I'm guessing it was painted by an elephant.

This, but it's not a guess.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Is this a trick "Virgil" question??

SPOILER: Click to show

• Its ears are too narrow
  
• Its ears are too short
  
• Its legs are too skinny & long for its body
  
  

(I don't think it was painted by an elephant, though. There are many paintings here in my city in a gallery that were painted by the elephants at our local zoo. They're all abstracts.

[Virgil Showlion]

Feb 16, 2014 22:42:10 GMT -5 ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ said:

Is this a trick "Virgil" question??

It is a trick question and it isn't.

The unusual aspect pertains to how it was painted, not the content of the painting.

ETA: I added spoiler blocks to all responses to avoid spoiling the magic for other guessers.

[mmhmm]

Was it painted by an elephant?

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

The elephants in our zoo here create paintings all the time - mostly abstracts though.

I'll give the elephant who may have painted this credit - since they're highly intelligent & artistic, and one may have painted this picture - in that case, I'd say it's expressing through its art its emotions/feelings - in this instance, love.

[Virgil Showlion]

OK. OK. Yeesh.

Apparently you people didn't find the "painted by an elephant" fact as unbelievable as I did.

But you are all correct: it was painted by an elephant.

In fact, you can see him paint it here:



I was like SL. The only thing I'd ever seen elephants paint was (for lack of a better term) abstract garbage.

This one blew me away.

Granted, he was trained to specifically paint this painting, and the trainer is responsible for "reloading" the brush and selecting the colours, but still. Wow.

They say in the video that he's an exceptionally intelligent elephant. Aside from those few videos showing the ingenuity of crows, I'd have to say this the most coordinated, intelligent thing I've ever seen an animal do. The part where he notices that he's left a gap while shading in the bottom of the belly blows my mind. Something like that shows actual reasoning, not just drawing lines by rote memorization.

[Tennesseer]

Elephants have been tested for self-awareness,  When faced with an elephant-sized mirror, instead of touching their own image in the mirror with their trunks, some elephants will touch their own heads instead.

Elephants pass mirror test of self-awareness

[Deleted]

Animals are people, too.

[Virgil Showlion]

Feb 17, 2014 7:07:41 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Animals are people, too.

That depends on what you mean by "people".

If you mean living creatures with will and awareness, absolutely.

[Deleted]

Feb 17, 2014 8:56:53 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Feb 17, 2014 7:07:41 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Animals are people, too.

That depends on what you mean by "people".

If you mean living creatures with will and awareness, absolutely.

And yet you want dogs to be treated like dogs.

[Virgil Showlion]

Feb 17, 2014 9:00:00 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Feb 17, 2014 8:56:53 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

That depends on what you mean by "people".

If you mean living creatures with will and awareness, absolutely.

And yet you want dogs to be treated like dogs.

That would be the gist of it, yes.

[toomuchreality]

Feb 16, 2014 23:05:19 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

OK. OK. Yeesh.

Apparently you people didn't find the "painted by an elephant" fact as unbelievable as I did.

But you are all correct: it was painted by an elephant.

In fact, you can see him paint it here:



I was like SL. The only thing I'd ever seen elephants paint was (for lack of a better term) abstract garbage.

This one blew me away.

Granted, he was trained to specifically paint this painting, and the trainer is responsible for "reloading" the brush and selecting the colours, but still. Wow.

They say in the video that he's an exceptionally intelligent elephant. Aside from those few videos showing the ingenuity of crows, I'd have to say this the most coordinated, intelligent thing I've ever seen an animal do. The part where he notices that he's left a gap while shading in the bottom of the belly blows my mind. Something like that shows actual reasoning, not just drawing lines by rote memorization.

So did  the elephant decide how to paint an elephant? Does the elephant know that's what he painted? (an elephant)

...Maybe I should have watched the video. 

[Peace Of Mind]

Awwww, he did a selfie!    Great job!

Here is mine and I needed help doing it.   

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I did a "selfie" too - and turned it into an avatar that I might use soon.

You should use yours as an avatar too, POM.

That one really brings out your eyes - and by out, I mean waaaay out!

[Virgil Showlion]

Feb 17, 2014 17:58:05 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

Feb 16, 2014 23:05:19 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

OK. OK. Yeesh.

Apparently you people didn't find the "painted by an elephant" fact as unbelievable as I did.

But you are all correct: it was painted by an elephant.

In fact, you can see him paint it here:



I was like SL. The only thing I'd ever seen elephants paint was (for lack of a better term) abstract garbage.

This one blew me away.

Granted, he was trained to specifically paint this painting, and the trainer is responsible for "reloading" the brush and selecting the colours, but still. Wow.

They say in the video that he's an exceptionally intelligent elephant. Aside from those few videos showing the ingenuity of crows, I'd have to say this the most coordinated, intelligent thing I've ever seen an animal do. The part where he notices that he's left a gap while shading in the bottom of the belly blows my mind. Something like that shows actual reasoning, not just drawing lines by rote memorization.

So did  the elephant decide how to paint an elephant? Does the elephant know that's what he painted? (an elephant)

...Maybe I should have watched the video. 

I don't know if the elephant fully understands the content, but I have to think that he does to some degree. If he was just putting lines down, there would be errors and disconnects and distortions everywhere. But the contours in the image are all complete and connected. It seems likely to me that he understands the concept of "objects", and recognizes the form of the legs, the head, the tree branches, etc.

I suppose it's also possible that the elephant has a photographic memory template, and has just become skilled at tracing out a mental template of the image very precisely. Elephants supposedly have remarkable memories. It's not just a fable. Hence it could be that he's just reproducing a graphic without any knowledge of the content, like a computer printer. The only way to tell for sure would be to set up a series of experiments.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 17, 2014 18:08:45 GMT -5 Peace Of Mind said:

Awwww, he did a selfie!    Great job!

Here is mine and I needed help doing it.   

Coincidence?  You decide. 

From Close Encounters of the Third Kind:

[Peace Of Mind]

Feb 17, 2014 18:19:46 GMT -5 ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ said:

I did a "selfie" too - and turned it into an avatar that I might use soon.

You should use yours as an avatar too, POM.

That one really brings out your eyes - and by out, I mean waaaay out!

I was seriously LMAO at my choice of picture and now you and Tenn have me cracking up again! 

Tenn - That could be some relatives I have that I've not met yet.  There is a strong similarity but that's not me.  

[toomuchreality]

Feb 17, 2014 18:21:18 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Feb 17, 2014 17:58:05 GMT -5 toomuchreality said:

So did  the elephant decide how to paint an elephant? Does the elephant know that's what he painted? (an elephant)

...Maybe I should have watched the video. 

I don't know if the elephant fully understands the content, but I have to think that he does to some degree. If he was just putting lines down, there would be errors and disconnects and distortions everywhere. But the contours in the image are all complete and connected. It seems likely to me that he understands the concept of "objects", and recognizes the form of the legs, the head, the tree branches, etc.

I suppose it's also possible that the elephant has a photographic memory template, and has just become skilled at tracing out a mental template of the image very precisely. Elephants supposedly have remarkable memories. It's not just a fable. Hence it could be that he's just reproducing a graphic without any knowledge of the content, like a computer printer. The only way to tell for sure would be to set up a series of experiments.

I wasn't sure if " he was trained to specifically paint this painting" meant he was trained how to paint elephants (& heart flowers), or what. It is pretty darn cool, I think! Amazing!

NNP did pretty well with hers too! -Hopefully she wasn't making fun of POM's relatives!

[wyouser]

OK...painted by an elephant.......laughed at by a hyena......spit upon by a Llahma.....imitated by an ape.......and...finally..eaten by a snow leopard...

[Virgil Showlion]

Feb 18, 2014 11:32:12 GMT -5 wyouser said:

OK...painted by an elephant.......laughed at by a hyena......spit upon by a Llahma.....imitated by an ape.......and...finally..eaten by a snow leopard...

Brutally butchered by a snow leopard, but more or less correct.