Maesa’s Art Stars: Thai Elephants that paint

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Can elephants paint?

A year ago, a friend showed me a funky abstract painting she had bought at a charity fundraiser in New York City. She told me the artist was an elephant.  What?! Since when were elephants art stars?

At the well-known Maesa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, elephants aren’t only art stars that paint, but they play soccer, basketball and perform a whole bag of tricks, making you feel like a kid at a circus!

Mahouts dismount their elephants so elephants may bow to the audience.

Once in the performance arena, the elephants  love to perform for an audience. Each elephant has it’s own personality and much like humans they appreciate receiving applause for their feats… as well as being fed bananas and sugar cane. These distinct personalities make them adorable to watch. There are over 100 elephants at the camp.

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.Elephants play on the soccer field.
Basketball!

It takes teamwork to pile large logs onto a stack.

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Thailand has always had a close relationship with its pachyderms, over the centuries. The animals were once used to lead royalty into battle as well as, for logging work. Today, they’re the symbol of the nation, representing good fortune. Thus, Kachasart is a study devoted to them and steps a mahout (or handler)must go through to care for and train them.

Maesa’s goal is to conserve and breed the Asian elephant, whose numbers are dwindling.  As such, the Maesa camp has a nursery and elephants are fed, given regular checkups and vaccinations to keep their health robust. Each elephant is given individual attention and has its own personal mahout, who cares for his mental and physical health, trains him and helps the veteranarian spot symptoms of illness or disease.

There are over 100 elephants at the camp and a mahout for each one of them.

Maesa Elephant Camp- get out there if you can!

Watch short video clip below of elephant painting.

Information:
Maesa Elephant Camp
website: http://www.maesaelephantcamp.com/
Tel. +66 5320 6247

Getting there:
Maesa is 1-hour from Chiang Mai city. On the way you will pass many farms- snake farm, butterfly and orchid farms and the Tiger sanctuary.

Showtimes: 08:00 am.- 09:40 am.- 01:30 pm.