Are Animals Becoming More Enlightened? Amazing

No, I don't believe animals are making any amazing leap in enlightenment. The change is our own perception.

Animals have always had a number of qualities than humans denied they had. Old misperceptions were based on lop-sided, half-truthed, biblical indoctrination. In fact, the bible contradicts itself on the animal topic as well ... but, that's a topic for another forum and another day.

For now though, animals do have emotions, most do care about their 'family' and they've always contained a great deal more intelligence and anaytical thinking than mankind credited them for.

The humans are now starting to see ... the enlightenment in is the human's perception.

There are some animal advocates aghast at the painting elephants though. They claim the trainers abuse the elephants. The elephants are 'conditioned' to paint - that isn't coming from their imagination.

There are at least two other threads showing how the elephants are tortured during training.

I'm on board with Vanitas. I think it's that people are finally opening their eyes to the fact that animals aren't as "stupid" as people believe them to be. In fact, we could learn a lot from them if we'd only pay attention.

I've seen footage of elephants showing more compassion for a dead companion than some of the humans I know. That should tell you something right there.

A couple of quick points...

I think that all animals are pretty much equally evolved as humans. Crocodiles for instance, have been around longer than humans. They are probably more evolved than us, just in different ways.

Also, to call an animal intelligent or stupid is absolutely pointless. You seem to be judging animals from an entirely human point of view. If animals take on or are taught human attributes, it in no way reflects their intelligence. You are compairing them to humans, which is ridiculous, assigning them human attributes to judge their intelligence.
I'm sure most animals (if not all) can be trained (by way of conditioning) if Humans put the effort in, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but animals are trained by conditioning, embedding knowledge in the instinct part of their brains. (for instance, giving a dog a treat each time it does what you tell it) Technically this is not learning, it's more instinctual.

Saying that an elephant is intelligent because it can paint is not conclusive that "elephants are intelligent" Of course they are intelligent, most creatures on earth are, otherwise they would be extinct.

If you were put in a harsh desert or a jungle, naked, and left there forever, I would say most people probably wouldn't survive for very long. This isn't because you're stupid, but because most people simply don't have the knowledge and the skill to survive such harsh conditions... Yet, every single type of animal in that dessert/jungle manages to survive enough to continue their species. Animals have skills and intelligence that are all geared towards their survival. Why would they need to paint a picture?

My point is that all animals are intelligent, but to compared them to the human idea of intelligent is pointless.

Consciousness, however is a different matter.

One smart bird! Image what we don't see and whats going on out there.