Seriously though, I really suck at art. Smart elephant, or no? Elephants are one of the few creatures that we know to be cognitive, and can recognize themselves (rather than thinking there is another creature in the mirror) in a mirror. Is this just a massive case of monkey-see-monkey-do, or is it really an elephant that is pretty smart?

For those of you who say it's just monkey-see-monkey-do, I challenge you to think differently: 99% of human activity is this monkey-see-monkey-do crap. We fancy ourselves as intelligent creatures, but what have you ever done/thought of that's original? 99.9999% of all ideas are thought of by .001% of the population. Your job is monkey-see-monkey-do, school is monkey-see-monkey-do, and so is your social life (social norms much?). There are a precious few on this forum who have done original thinking/research, while the rest are just imitating what they see in real life.

The learned behavior this elephant exhibits is, in my opinion, a good indication of intelligence that is significant.

I realized it was smarter than me,
when it was holding a paint brush.

...Oh....My.....GAWD...that is SO INSANE!!!

haha i just picture that lady saying "oh it's a butterfly" and the elephant turning to her and saying "no dumbass, i'm not done yet."

It seemed plausible until it drew the flower. That's not to say, however, that it doesn't know that it's drawing an elephant.