I was concerned about all of this as well. The piano playing man in the video addresses comments people have made on the video on his YouTube channel (it’s part of a series):
Also, this is the place that Peter the elephant lives, apparently:
Looks like it’s a not-for-profit that cares for “retired” elephants and raises money by letting visitors come interact with and take care of the elephants.
From the YouTube video about section:
The “guy” in the background is Pat, Peter’s mahout. He is Thai. A mahout is a person that devotes his or her life to looking after an elephant, usually in Asia. This is a dangerous job.
Pat is responsible for Peter’s well-being, day and night, all year round. Pat’s daily duties include keeping Peter safe from other bull elephants as well as looking after visitors to Peter’s home at the Royal Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya, Thailand.
Pat and Peter have a special bond.
Pat is not reading a magazine in this video, he is filming himself with his tablet.
Pat is not prodding Peter, he is just reminding him not to get too carried away and smash the piano keys with his heavy trunk as he has, unintentionally, on previous occasions.
The chain around Peter’s neck is flimsy. It is there so Pat can walk at Peter’s side and guide him occasionally around vehicles or other potentially harmful bull elephants on the way to bath and drink in the river, for instance. Those with experience working with elephants in Thailand know this flimsy chain is no restraint to an elephant whatsoever. It is not there to cause Peter any harm, just the reverse.
Peter has NOT been trained to play piano. This video is Peter’s spontaneous reaction to a piano during a brief encounter one evening between Peter and Paul Barton, a visiting pianist to the elephant Kraal where Peter lives.
This video is one of a series in “Music for Elephants”. There are 23 videos with piano and elephants in this playlist http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL07228141C088A986
The musical intention behind this video is fully explained in a full length TV documentary “Music for Elephants” directed and produced by Amanda Feldon. This documentary will be broadcast in 2014. The subject of music is mixed with elephant conservation issues.
Piano keys are no longer made of ivory. The piano in this video has plastic keys. All piano keys are made from synthetic polymers and plastics. The use of ivory for piano keys decreased dramatically after World War II and thankfully stopped altogether in 1989 with the CITIES worldwide ban on ivory trade.
Over time it seems that fewer and fewer of the behaviors commonly thought to be human-only are also found in other animals.
And apparently elephants are the only animals known to instinctively understand what it means when a human points at something.
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