By Ibiene George
Researchers studying the life of elephants recently discovered that a certain Korean Elephant may be speaking some Korean words accurately.
Discovery news reports that the Asian elephant male named Koshik can imitate human speech, speaking words in Korean that others who know the language can understand.
The elephant’s vocabulary reportedly consists of just five words at present: annyong (hello), anja (sit down), aniya (no), nuo (lie down), and choah (good).
According to Tecumseh Fitch, a professor of cognitive biology at the University of Vienna and co-author of a study on elephants in current biology, ‘Some of the words commands that Koshik learned to perform, such as ‘lie down’ and ‘sit down’, were given as feedback, and we have every reason to believe he understands the meaning of these words’.
He added, “It’s just that when he utters them, he doesn’t seem to intend them as commands — or at least when he says ‘lie down,’ he doesn’t seem to get upset if you don’t lie down!”
Watch video of Koshik talking below…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=149AAdL3Vr4[/youtube]
