Name: Phumphuang

Sex: Female

Born: 1983

Origin

Phumphuang was donated to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center by Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand.

Nature

Phumpuang is very docile and friendly with humans, but she is afraid of dogs and cars and she chases chickens. She loves to eat sugar cane and corn.

Special Story

Phumpuang has an unusual number of toes on her feet – 17 in all. Front right there are 5 toes, front left there are four and there are four each on her back legs. She has a perfect temperament for breeding and on 6 May 2004 she gave birth to a female baby named Aleena. Mother and baby were constantly together for three years from birth while Aleena was being weaned, after which Phumpuang returned to painting again.

Artistic talents:

Phumpuang has developed two quite different styles of painting and she often uses both styles in the same painting according to her mood at the time. One is a series of gentle dabs with the brush, spread across the canvas and the other is straight lines, usually vertical.

Mahout: Phumphuang’s mahout is Sawang Kamwang, who was born in Lampang September 1974 and started working as a mahout at the age of 23. Sawaeng is married to Niyom and they have two daughters.