How to Carve an Elephant Cake for Baby Shower
Elephants are utterly magnificent beings. When seen in the wild, they appear like creatures from another world, and their size and grace are and so humbling to a mere human being. Information technology is near incommunicable not to be absolutely floored by the sight of a existent life pachyderm, and what could be more astounding than watching a gentle elephant use his trunk to paint a moving picture of a bloom? This come across would surely be the nearly peaceful, beautiful experience ane is likely to ever have.
Just wait; let's take a stride back for a moment. Under what circumstances would y'all come beyond an elephant painting a picture in the wild? Last we checked, the plains of Thailand didn't have a arts and crafts corner…
Well, if you find yourself in this rather bizarre situation, chances are said painting elephant is beingness held in captivity. Elephant tourism is extremely popular in Thailand, so much so that the native Asian elephant population has all but disappeared from the wild. Tourists from across the world flock to Thailand to have an experience unlike anything they could become at home. Seeing a alive elephant is oft included as one of these experiences. Lucky for tourists, at that place are countless elephant trekking excursions, and elephant "camps," where (for a modest fee) people can spend the day in the presence of these scenic animals.
But, as we await more closely into these "happy" elephant excursions, the more than concerned we become for the welfare of the elephants living in captivity.
The Incredible Elephant Artists of Thailand
The Maesa Elephant Campsite has been in operation since 1976, and is credited with pioneering the concept of the "artist" elephant. Maesa Elephant Camp is located just outside Chiang Mai, Thailand, a Thai tourism hotspot. In that location are seventy-viii elephants currently "enrolled" in the army camp, all of whom were purchased by the campsite's founder, Choochart Kalmapijit'southward over the past thirty years.
The Maesa Elephant Camp website explains, "Choochart purchased elephants from all over the country, and with their mahouts and other experts, worked and fell in honey with the elephants, revealing one skill or fact after another about these pachyderms."
The high intelligence of elephants is often credited with their ability to learn how to paint so effortlessly. Still, just equally an elephant in the wild would not cull to jump into a handstand, it is non probable they ever aspired to exist a Pachyderm Picasso either.
I of the "skills" lauded by the elephants at Maesa Elephant Army camp, of class, is the uncanny ability to pigment.
How are Elephants Taught to Pigment?
According to the Maesa Elephant Camp website, the artists of the campsite started to have the stage in 2000, "when the young calves in Maesa Elephant Plant nursery reached two twelvemonth of age, it was time to separate them from their mothers."
And similar all good adults, these little elies were put to work! "From that day frontwards, these niggling 'Jumbos' would live with and be trained by a mahout, learning commands, performing skills, and – for the beginning fourth dimension at Maesa Elephant Military camp – painting!"
Farther, the site explains that it took around a month to teach the elephants to learn to agree a brush with their trunks – they were a bit reluctant at first, simply got the hang of it in no fourth dimension! In one case this skill was mastered, they were set to learn to dip their brushes into paint. "One of our pachyderm prodigies successfully painted dots, while the other three chose to pigment cute lines."
And thus, the Gallery Maesa was started.
Well, if y'all're simply not satisfied with this simplistic explanation for how you tin teach a wild baby elephant to stand still and focus on painting, so please do read on.
A More Likely Story
While nosotros cannot criminate that Maesa utilizes these methods for preparation their Jumbo painters, this is a credible business relationship of how elephants are traditionally trained to paint in the Thai tourism industry, provided cheers to the research performed by devoted elephant conservation organizations across Thailand.
Built-in Gratuitous explains that it is a "myth" that the elephant's ability to pigment is a result of their natural cleverness. Rather, direct refuting Maesa's story about how their elephants learned to paint, "Elephants endure months of physical abuse to acquire how to hold a pigment brush, draw a direct line and paint flowers and leaves on trees."
Like elephants used in the elephant trekking industry, young elephants used for painting must exist cleaved and experience the pain of the phajaan process. Over this fourth dimension baby elephants are starved, shackled, and beaten until their spirit is completely cleaved and will submit to the will of their captors. One time immature elephants have undergone this process they can beingness learning to pigment.
Training a Master
Elephants use special brushes to create their "masterpieces." These brushes are inserted directly into the trunk and have a dividing bar that rests at the very end of the truck to go on the brush from falling all the style up the elephant's nose.
And the elephant learns to grip around the top of the brush. The elephant's trunk is incredibly sensitive and full of nerve endings. In the wild elephants volition avoid acacia copse because these trees business firm ants that might crawl into the elephants trunk and bite. While the paintbrush might not bite … we can't imagine it is a comfortable experience.
During a painting performance, the elephant's mahout stands diligently at the elephant's side, poised with bullhooks.
Alexlky/Shutterstock
Bull hooks or the more than discrete method, a nail that can be hidden in the mahout'southward hand, is shoved into the soft tissue of the elephant'south ear.
To train the elephant to move the brush to create stroke patterns that we recognize every bit flowers, copse, or even an elephant, the mahouts use these painful prods to guide the elephant's movements. Farther, if an elephant paints incorrectly, they are browbeaten, either with a bullhook, or physically hit on their head or trunk.
When this skill is mastered, the elephant will exist expected to recreate the same pattern every single mean solar day, sometimes twice, or even three times.
Poonsap/Shutterstock
Naturalist, Desmond Morris bore witness to an elephant painting show in Thailand, looking to discern whether elephants could actually create paintings at their ain volition, based on their individual creative talents. From his observation, the mahout kept a tight grip on the elephants ear for the unabridged performance, tugging either right or left to dispense the elephant into making a sure brush stroke.
What YOU Tin and MUST do to Stop This Suffering
After reading this we're sure that a Green Monster such as yourself is plenty upset. We were too! The skillful news is that y'all have the power to exercise something nigh it by simply refusing to patronize elephant camps that characteristic painting elephants. Maesa is hardly the but "elephant camp" in Thailand, and it is certainly not alone in its practices.
If y'all run across elephants being kept in bondage who behave the scars of these chains effectually their ankles, that'due south a ruddy flag. If you run across mahouts with bullhooks in their hands, that's a red flag. If y'all see an elephant perform a behavior it would never in the wild (i.eastward. twirling a hula hoop on its nose, or bowing to an audience), that'southward a blood-red flag. Elephants are incredibly intelligent beings, and with this in mind can you really believe that they would turn themselves into clowns for our amusement if not being trained via torture to do then?
Sharing the Truth Nearly Elephant Painting
Elephant painting camps, like Maesa Elephant Camp, thrives on the tourism industry. Between vacationers who visit the camp, to people who purchase and share elephant painting and merchandise, camps like Maesa are able to keep performance. There are also endless videos featuring elephants painting in this fashion on the internet. Be sure not to share videos that feature elephants who are being tortured into painting for tourists, and to share this article with those who do share these videos. From the outside, it may appear that the elephants tin "magically" create works of art, but now that you know how elephants are traditionally taught to paint … it's your duty to share the truth.
Many people do not realize the cruelty that occurs backside the scenes at elephant camps, only when y'all know what to await for – suddenly all the red flags are there.
Leave a Review on Tripadvisor and Like Sites
While your individual boycott of Maesa Elephant Camp and others volition make a divergence, you can magnify that impact past spreading the word and mobilizing with your other Green Monsters.
If you or someone you know has witnessed the cruelty that occurs in an elephant painting show, share this article on their Tripadvisor review folio to advise others non to stop by if they're in the area.
Expose Others
Permit u.s. know (in the comments sections) about other animal attractions and elephant camps that should be banned for the manner they treat animals.
When we know the truth, it is our duty to share this truth. No animals deserve to suffer for the sake of our lilliputian entertainment.
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Source: https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/why-making-an-elephant-paint-is-cruel-not-cute/
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