DailyDirt: Talking Animals Are Real
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Parrots are well-known as non-human animals that can speak our language with some degree of intelligence, but there are a few other examples of animals that can perform similar feats. So far, the vocalizations of these animals are a bit difficult to understand, but it’s clear that there are some non-human species that want to imitate us. Before anyone else says it… I, for one, welcome our new _____ overlords.
- An Asian elephant named Koshik can say five Korean words — “annyong” (“hello”), “anja” (“sit down”), “aniya” (“no”), “nuo” (“lie down”) and “choah” (“good”). This 22-year-old male elephant was born in captivity, and this may be the first time researchers have heard an elephant use its trunk to modify its vocalizations. [url]
- Some dog owners have trained their dogs to speak short English words and phrases. In a few more (hundred) generations of human-directed breeding, maybe we’ll have dogs that are fluent in human languages. [url]
- Hoover the seal was famous for being the first non-human mammal to speak recognizable English words. He lived at the New England Aquarium and spoke with a thick Bostonian accent…. [url]
- Beluga whales are sometimes referred to as “sea canaries” because they’re so vocal, but now there’s recorded evidence that at least one of these creatures can mimic human speech. A beluga whale in captivity didn’t actually say anything recognizable, but it made sounds in an audible range of normal human speech — which is much lower than usual whale noises. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
Filed Under: beluga whale, biology, dog, elephant, intelligence, parrot, seal, smart animals, talking animals, vocalization
Comments on “DailyDirt: Talking Animals Are Real”
A think Boston accent?
Is there a recording of this?
Re: A think Boston accent?
Oops. typo fixed. THICK Boston accent… 😛
Mike Masnick mimics human speech.
*ducks*
I’M JUST KIDDING!
Just because you can teach animals to form human-recognizable words, doesn’t mean that they’re suddenly going to gain the intelligence to hold conversations. Look at parrots, in many cases they can speak almost perfect English, but they still just repeat what they’ve been taught.
Re: Re:
Some parrots have been seen with surprisingly high intelligence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot)
Alex was able to do some simple math and was arguably as smart as a very young human child.
talking is one thing, communication is where it is at, and that is common, I have a dog, I do not have converstations with it as you would another human, but we are able to communicate very very effectively, she can tell me many things that I instantly understand, and I can tell her many things that she will instantly understand, we communicate, but we dont talk..
Guys! Annyong is not really his name, that’s just hello in Korean.
The elephant’s actual name is Hel Lo.
animal speech
My Mother taught our dog to speak in the 60’s and he was Very clear, and knew what the words meant.
He would say “I want it” “Hamburger” “I love you” and “Momma” this is what I can recall off the top of my head but he (the dog) would speak without prompting at times I know he knew other words and sentences
The Dog and I learned to speak at the same time
My sister won a talent contest with this animal and I think my father still has the reel to reel audio recordings to this day.
My uncle also taught his dog to talk 40 years later
Talking Animals
The ideas about parrots are widely held misinformation based on centuries of prejudice. The specific statement “Parrots just repeat what they hear” is true for birds trained that way.
There are records dating to the ancient Greeks describing birds learning human language (Greek). I am an independent investigator of talking birds. Given the proper education many birds can learn language and assemble original ideas and express thought. For more information consult my book called “Another Kind of Mind: A Talking Bird Masters English” for specific examples from recorded data, some of which is on the Internet site:
http://www.ParrotSpeech.com/Another_Mind.html
The problem is man’s arrogance to think like Descartes that other animals are just robots and we are superior. I subscibe to Darwin’s idea that all characteristics are on a continuum. I reepeat a famous line about animal research: The absence of evidence is not evidence of the absence of a capability for animals. Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us!”
Mike
Florida