Elephants speak because they are so close to people

The close relationship with humans can be the driving force for an elephant in Korea to practice to sound like a Korean.

>>>Elephant speaks human language

Koshik - the name of a 12-year-old elephant in Everland Zoo - in Yongin City, Gyeonggi-do Province, Korea - became famous for its ability to emit 5 sounds like "annyong" (hello), " choah "(good)," aniya "(" no), "anja" (sitting down) and "nuo" (lying down). It puts the tip of the nozzle into the mouth to emit those sounds. Can understand the sound that an elephant emits easily.

Angela Stoeger-Horwath, expert on biological language at the University of Vienna in Austria, and her colleagues are studying the ability of Koshik to speak. She thinks that Koshik has practiced to make sounds, Livescience reported.

Koshik Elephant in Everland Zoo, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea. (Photo: AP)

"There is a hard work to iron, there is a day, so kim. The desire to imitate the people of Koshik who comes in daily contact has urged him to think of a whole new way to create sound," Stoeger-Horwath said.

When scientists analyzed the sounds of Koshik, they found that they were completely different from the common sounds of elephants. Koshik accurately imitated the timbre, pitch and other elements of human language.

"This is a very remarkable achievement, because the body size and the pronunciation parts of the elephants are much bigger than the people," Stoeger-Horwath commented.

Stoeger-Horwath added that Koshik only comes into contact with a person during a period in which his psychology and intellect develop. Perhaps this is the decisive factor for its Korean "learning" effort.

"We consider Koshik to start learning how to imitate human language to increase the level of attachment to zoo employees. The animals that are capable of imitating sounds all behave similarly," she said. .

The team thinks that Koshik's Korean mimic skills can help scientists better understand the animals' ability to learn complex sounds. That ability is important for the evolution of human voice and music. Future research will help them discover how to communicate with the sound of elephants.