In the year 2000, when the young calves in Maesa Elephant Nursery reached two year of age, it was time to seperate them from their mothers. From that day forward, these little 'Jumbos' would live with and be trained by a mahout, learning commands, performing skills, and - for the first time at Maesa Elephant Camp - painting!

The first step for the young elephants was to learn to hold the brush in their trunk. Initially, the calves were reluctant to pick up a paint brush and it took more than a month of persistence before the would-be artists became adept at simply holding the brush in their trunks. The next step for the mahouts was to train them to actually put paint onto paper. One of our pachyderm prodigies successfully painted dots, while the other three chose to paint beautiful lines