Maggie the Sea Lion Paints for Fish

PITTSBURGH – Some artists suffer for their work. Maggie, an 11-year-old sea lion at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, gets to eat dead fish for hers. Kesha Phares, a zoo trainer, has been teaching the animal to paint since last year.

"It’s, in a way, enriching," Phares told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for Wednesday’s editions. "Sea lions are very smart animals, and painting keeps their minds active."

It took three months to get the animal to hold a paint brush and touch the bristles to paper.

Phares picks the paint colors – sea lions are colorblind – and puts paint on the brush. The paintings are done one stroke at a time, with Maggie getting a fish after each stroke.

If the animal can be said to have a style, it is this: She tends to put more paint on the right side of the canvas than the left.

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Information from: Tribune-Review, http://www.triblive.com