I have heard of animals creating art but didn't realize that the trend (at least for elephants) begin in the US with an Asian elephant named Ruby. Ruby was born in Thailand to a working (logger) mother and shipped to the Phoenix Zoo in 1974 when she was about 7 months old. She lived there with a goat and some chickens for a period of time,eventually it became apparent that Ruby was lonely and bored (elephants are social creatures). Her keepers noticed her scratching in the dirt with a stick and decided to offer her a brush and paints. Ruby really bloomed with her art and had several one artist shows. She would indicate the colors she wanted to use for the pieces as she worked on them and was quite particular when choosing her colors. Her most expensive painting sold for $25,000,the proceeds from her artwork went into the zoo's endangered animal fund. Sadly Ruby died in 1998 from complications with a pregnancy. I couldn't find any examples of Ruby's art,but several other Asian elephants have picked up where Ruby left off. The profits from their labor go into an Asian Elephant Conservation Fund.
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| A Picture of Ruby at work |
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| The above paintings are by two different elephants |
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