Jeb is a zookeeper. He loves his job!
RAMA: AMBASSADOR FOR THE ENDANGERED ONES
Speaking Passionately on Behalf of Those who Cannot Speak
A Groundbreaking Collaboration of Innovative Artists and Thinkers featuring RAMA the Elephant; Created and Directed by Calley O'Neill
AN EPIC JOURNEY OF ART AND SOUL FOR THE EARTH
RAMA
RAMA, Artist Elephant
Rama is Oregon’s biggest artist and may just be the best abstract expressionist painter in the world. The youngest son of Packy and Rosy, the Oregon Zoo’s most prestigious pachyderms, Rama was destined for fame. Packy is famous as the first elephant ever born in North America. In 2012, in celebration of his fiftieth birthday, Packy was knighted by the Royal Rosarians as Sir Packy! His son, Rama was born April 1, 1983. Rama inherited his friendly personality from Rosy. Aside from 2-year old Samudra, Rama is the smallest of four bulls, weighing roughly 8,270 pounds.
Rama began painting as a form of enrichment and showed remarkable interest, leading to his career as a successful, well known Portland artist. Highly intelligent, Rama quickly learned a variety of painting techniques using his trunk and brushes. His keepers discovered his painting abilities during a routine health test for tuberculosis in 2006. A keeper put a sterile saline solution into his trunk and asked him to hold it for a few moments and then spray it into a sterile lab container. Rama liked the game so much that he began following keepers around, blowing air out his trunk. After careful consideration, elephant keeper Jeb Barsh introduced nontoxic tempera paints into the tip of Rama’s trunk, and Rama’s career was off and running. It takes more than 4 tons of thrust to get this kind of powerful beauty.
Rama quickly mastered spray painting and began working with a brush, which involves his strong trunk muscles and gives him creative freedom. As Rama brushes, his ears flex and he shakes his head, showing interest and excitement. Rama can walk away at any time and choose not to paint. Instead, he chooses to stand close and paint every time. This activity is an example of how zookeepers, who care deeply for all the animals in their care, learn about the individual personalities of the animals to whom they dedicate their life’s work.
RAMA, A NAME WITH POWER: In ancient Sanskrit, only two mantra are called taaraka, (that which can ferry you across) and they are OM and RAMA, words of great significance. In Hinduism, it is said that the repetition of the two life giving letters, ra and ma, are deeply purifying.
Rama, the son of the great king of Adyodhya in India, lived with great integrity and courage in spite of a long, arduous journey filled with harsh challenges and tests. Rama returned from a long exile and was crowned King and then Emperor, ruling with justice, prosperity, peace and happiness. Rama is the symbol of The Perfect Man and the Lord of Virtue, who, it is said will come again in a time of great need.
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Jeb Barsh and Rama the elephant in a creative outdoor training session at the Oregon Zoo.
