My Chiang Mai

Elephants have always been flexible and adaptable animals, some can even paint pictures.

At a charity event near Chiang Mai, visitors have witnessed a demonstration of a team of elephants ploughing a rice paddy.

The demonstration was supported by Nok Air and  a total of eight elephants were put to work on an eight-rai rice paddy.

The event took place at the Baan Saen Resort and Spa which is in the Night Safari area, funds for the event are expected to be raised by the sale of bags of rice at 1000 baht for a two-kilo bag, the bags of rice should be ready some time in December.

Using elephants to pull a plough is nothing new and Karen villagers north of Chiang Mai have been doing so for generations.  An elephant is four times stronger than a buffalo so they are more suited to pulling a plough in difficult and rocky terrain which would be problematic using buffalo.

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