Elephant Art

Elephant Artists Amaze Us.

All five female African elephants at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo are artists. When they choose to paint, each elephant has her own way of taking a paintbrush with her trunk and showcasing her creativity on paper. You can learn more about each of our elephants here.

Unique Benefits of Elephant Art:

Painting enriches our elephants’ lives and stimulates their minds!
We know every time someone looks at their elephant art on display, they’ll be reminded how amazing and intelligent these animals are.
With every piece of art purchased, the proceeds support the care of all CMZoo animals!
Each piece of art is one-of-a-kind, so if you see something you like, get it before it’s gone! There won’t be another piece like it!

More About Elephants

CMZ Elephant Profiles

Learn more about these amazing elephant artists at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Lucky

Born in 1980, Lucky – who weighs about 8,000 pounds and stands 9 feet tall – has called Cheyenne Mountain Zoo home since 1981 after being orphaned in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

One of the many things Lucky’s zookeepers have done to keep this highly intelligent animal mentally stimulated and challenged is to teach her to paint as an “enrichment” activity. A quick study, Lucky took to this new activity in a matter of weeks. Despite her large size, she is quite attentive to detail as she applies paint to the canvas using her favorite paintbrush. (Elephants have over 100,000 muscles in their trunks, providing them great strength, dexterity and coordination.)

Zookeepers have learned to modify paintbrushes by removing the handles -otherwise they end up in Lucky’s mouth (she loves to chew off the wooden handles!). Her paint medium is water-based tempera. Lucky often makes vocalizations that sound like a loud purr while she’s painting. This is a contented noise, which gives every indication that she enjoys expressing her creative side.

Kimba

The largest of our African elephant herd, Kimba weighs more than 10,000 pounds and stands 9.5 feet tall. Born in 1978 at Kruger National Park in South Africa, Kimba came to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in 1981, along with Lucky. She is known for her love of eating – especially bananas, watermelons, pumpkins and cabbage. She – along with Lucky. Missy and Jambo – eat a total of more than 450 lbs of grain and hay per day! You can tell Kimba apart from the other three by her mismatched tusks; she has a long left tusk and a short right tusk.

Kimba’s one of a kind artwork is an imprint of her skin. An elephant’s skin has a unique texture with many “wrinkles” and grooves. These prints are created by applying a clay and water based paste (like a mud treatment) and then canvas paper is pressed over the “mud” area revealing a skin print. During the sessions to create this art, Kimba will lean into the canvas paper and help the zookeepers make the impression. She enjoys training with zookeepers and earning food rewards during her sessions.

Jambo

Jambo, which means “hello” in Swahili, is the newest addition to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s African elephant herd. She was born in Zimbabwe in 1983 and spent most of her life in the entertainment business before moving to the zoo in 2011. Jambo weighs about 8,000 pounds and stands 9 feet tall. She has the shortest tusks in the herd and has a lot of hair compared to the other three elephants.

Jambo is still getting to know Kimba, and Lucky, but her outgoing personality will likely change the current social structure of the group. Jambo is a very energetic, eager to train elephant and is known for double-checking the locks in the barn with her trunk. She’s always looking to stay busy with animal care staff and enrichment activities.

Jambo thrives on her training sessions with zookeepers, and painting sessions are a great way to engage her and highlight the dexterity of an elephant’s trunk.