Enjoy a brush with the elephants!
Whipsnade Zoo’s pachyderm Picasso has picked up a paintbrush to show off her artistic talents to mark Elephant Appreciation Weekend.
Fourteen-year-old Asian elephant Karishma has been using her trunk to decorate wooden elephants with colourful splashes of paint in the run up to the weekend (September 22-23) – which raised vital funds for the zoo’s worldwide elephant conservation and research projects.
Elephant keeper Elizabeth Becker said: “Karishma really enjoys painting, and she’s very talented at it.
“It demonstrates just how dexterous elephant’s trunks really are and we think the end results are pretty amazing, if a little abstract!”
Karishma’s works of art were on display at the zoo during Elephant Appreciation Weekend alongside nine wooden elephants which have been created and decorated by students from Central Bedforshire College to represent each of Whipsnade’s nine elephants.