“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.” -Keith Richards. It seems that humans aren’t the only ones to feel the emotions of music. Elephants seem to have the passion in their bones as well. Believe it or not, this elephant named Lam Duan prefers to sway her body to the soothing sounds of classical music.
Lam Duan has been blind for most of her life. The 62 year-old elephant spends her days in ‘Elephants World’, which is an animal protection organization in Wang Dong, Thailand.
A British musician by the name of Paul Barton dragged his piano into the middle of the elephant sanctuary and played some soothing classical music for the blind elephant.
Barton got the idea to do this one day on the River Kwai bridge while filming a video for his channel. There, he found out about this elephant sanctuary that takes care of old, injured, handicapped logging and street elephants. Since he loved elephants, he went down there and asked if he could bring in and play the piano to the elephants. They had no objection to that.
Barton explained that almost all elephants react to music. They suddenly start to move as soon as the music starts to play.
Some come closer to the piano and begin stroking it with their trunks, while others hold their trunks in their mouths and listen. Yet others, like Lam Duan, sway from side to side. All become curious when the sound of the piano reaches their ears.
Check out this video:
The elephants enjoy Barton’s performances so much, some even attempt to sing along:
More info: Paul Barton
Barton is also known to play the Saiyok, a traditional Thai flute, to the elephants like the video above.