The pianist who performs for elephants

Serious and composed, British artist Paul Barton sits down at his piano and intones Debussy’s “Moonlight”. In his career he has done it dozens and dozens of times, plowing the most prestigious stages. This time, however, his theater is the Thai forest and his audience is Ampan, an eighty-year-old elephant who is now almost blind .

The video of this exhibition went around the world. Impossible to remain indifferent in front of Ampan who, however old and tired of her, she remains to listen attentively, moves her ears as a sign of joy and lets herself be caressed .

For Paul Barton, dedicating himself to elephants became his way of making sense and meaning of retirement after a career as a painter and musician . Moving to Thailand with his family, he came across the NGO Elephants World that takes care of man-abused pachyderms, beaten during the grueling hours of work or mutilated for their fangs. 

For animals, the shelter near Kanchanaburi is a happy island. Also thanks to Barton who performs for them on the piano, entertaining and thrilling them to tears . A real music therapy to the sound of lullabies, Beethoven, Debussy and Mozart.

The intelligence and emotions of elephants

Woe to call them “beasts”. Elephants are far more empathic creatures than we can imagine. They mourn their dead, defend puppies from predators, are capable of reworking past experiences and predicting the emotional reactions of others. 

Several studies rank them among the smartest animals ever . It seems that they are able to recognize themselves in the mirror (a skill that even human cubs acquire no earlier than 18 months of life) and use rudimentary objects to perform tasks : for example, they use branches to chase away flies or dry vegetation to bury the dead. And these are just some of the amazing things we know about them. 

Why elephants are endangered

In light of these abilities, it hurts even more to discover that all three elephant species – the African, forest and Asian elephant – are endangered . On the one hand, their habitat is increasingly fragmented, because it leaves room for agricultural areas (such as the cultivation of oil plants in Asia) and human settlements. 

In parallel there is poaching for ivory smuggling . A phenomenon that has even been exacerbated by the health emergency , which has almost eliminated tourist flows and, consequently, has made checks much more sporadic, creating a climate of impunity.