As I started writing this post I was preparing to scream out HOAX! I mean, come on, the picture depicts an elephant “painting” a very serviceable picture of another elephant complete with a blanket on its back and everything. Yeah sure. Some dude painted that and they stuck the elephant in the shot occasionally to give the impression the elephant was doing it. Come on now.

And then… and then… I saw this video:

I have not been so severely shocked by anything in a long time.

Beyond the fact that its a picture of an elephant, it is a picture with form, dimension, and movement. The elephant starts with the basic structure, and then fills in the details. The elephant uses line weight to give the animal some dimension. The elephant paints the far legs BEHIND the body of the animal. (Something which early man couldn’t figure out how to do.) It drew the ground below the animal to help cement it into the scene, give it some weight, and keep it from looking as if its floating in space. (Something I can’t get my students to do half the time.) For god sakes, it drew the elephant holding a damn flower in it’s trunk!

I am completely in shock right now…