I saw an elephant painting a self portrait on you tube. The elephant was painting with style and flair. Can't believe my eyes, can this really be or is it a trick?

Elephants are intelligent animals, but I don't think they could draw something properly, they would just play with the colors.

Louis.

Actually- it was painting a self-portrait, and several of his/her 'works' are being displayed in Edinburgh. The one called Paya is supposed to be the only one that paints elephants. The elephants "took a month to train", I wonder what that means. I wonder if he knows he's painting elephants...

You know, *humans* have to be trained -- or have to train themselves -- how to paint and/or draw. I wonder how different the training is between an elephant and a human art student.

Here are some references for verification:

More videos:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=elephant+painting)

News:
2002 Elephant Painters, As Good As The Human Masters? - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/02/14/60minutes/main329450.shtml)
2002 Painting Elephants Get Online Gallery (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/06/0626_020626_elephant.html)
2006 BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Edinburgh and East | Elephant 'self-portrait' on show (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/5203120.stm)

Myth-busting:
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Elephant Painting (http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/elephantpainting.asp)

I think it is entirely plausible that elephants can be taught to paint. The elephant is holding a brush with his/her trunk, which performs many delicate functions for elephants. They are a very intelligent species.