Elephant speaks human language

An elephant in Korea has the ability to produce sounds that resemble Korean words.

>>>Video: Elephant speaks human language

Koshik - the name of the 12-year-old elephant in Everland Zoo - in Yongin City, Gyeonggi-do Province, Korea - emits 5 sounds like "annyong" (hello), "choah" (good), " aniya "(" no), "anja" (sitting down) and "nuo" (lying down). It put the tip of the nozzle into the mouth to emit those sounds. The elephant came out easily, Livescience reported.

The Koshik Elephant in Everland Zoo plays 5 sounds
like Korean by putting a hose into your mouth.

Biological language researcher Angela Stoeger-Horwath of Vienna University in Austria went to the Everland zoo to witness Koshik's speaking ability.

"We have not found a trick that Koshik applies to emit Korean-like sounds , " Stoeger-Horwath said.

The Everland Zoo raised Koshik from 1995 to 2002. It is the only elephant here. Koshik trainers discovered its ability to imitate human language since 2004.

This is the first time people have seen elephants emit sounds like human voices. Stoeger-Horwath states that Koshik does not understand the meaning of the sounds it emits.

"It seems that Koshik uses these sounds to increase the level of engagement with people, not to ask people to do specific things , " she said.