On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:43:31 -0800, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>Dave Bell wrote:
>>
>> merryb wrote:
>> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LHoyB81LnE
>>
>> Yeah, I've been showing that one around!
>>
>> Even if the elephant's been laboriously trained to produce that
>> particular painting, it's amazing.
>>
>> Even if he's responding to subtle trainer clues - hand
>> gestures, touches, etc. - it's *still* amazing!
>
>I'm not convinced this is for real. The elephant
>clearly has been taught to hold a brush, but I
>think that is being spliced between other scenes
>in which a person with a long glove that looks
>like an elephant's trunk is doing the "fine"
>painting.
>
>If this were not a hoax, then why does the view
>zoom in and out wildly, which helps to disguise
>the scene cuts? If there were no scene cuts
>at all and no zooming, and if you could clearly
>see the elephant making something sensible on
>a blank canvas, I'd be more tempted to believe it.
>
>If it can be a fake, rest assured it is a fake.
>The sort of money people in the West would pay
>for alleged "elephant paintings" is certainly
>a great temptation for someone in Thailand.

According to Snopes.com, this is not a hoax.

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

Ron