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Animal-made art


Animal-made art is art created by a non-human animal. Animal-made works of art have been created by apes, elephants, cetacea, reptiles, and bowerbirds, among other species.

During the late 1950s, biologists began to study the nature of art in humans. Theories were proposed based on observations of non-human primate paintings. Hundreds of such paintings were cataloged by Desmond Morris. Morris and his associate Tyler Harris interpreted these canvas paintings as indications of an intrinsic motivation toward abstract creativity, as expressed through an exploration of the visual field and color. Many of these painters progressed over time by expanding or contracting the area of paint coverage, the horizontal or vertical stroke relationships, and even the development of content.

Monkey paintings were exhibited in many modern art museums during an early 1960s fad. The cultural and scientific interest in monkey painting diminished steadily and little note is taken today.

Elephants in captivity have been trained to paint as a form of zoo environmental and behavioural enrichment. An example of this is seen at Melbourne Zoo. However, research published in 2014 indicated that elephants gain little enrichment from the activity of painting apart from the positive reinforcement given by zookeepers during the activity. The scientists concluded that the "benefits of this activity appear to be limited to the aesthetic appeal of these paintings to the people viewing them". The elephants draw the same painting each time and have learned to draw it line-for-line. It has been alleged that cruelty is involved in some tourist destinations where elephants are trained to paint.

In some dolphin shows, educated dolphins and beluga whales paint with brushes. The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies have taught several of its dolphins to paint.

In 2014, Bini the Bunny showed the world that rabbits can paint also. Given a blank canvas to work with, Bini grabs a brush with his mouth and begins adding colors to create an abstract work.


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