Talking elephants

Nope, it's nothing like "pink elephants on parade". There is supposedly an elephant in South Korea who can speak.

Watch this CBSNews Video and see what you think of this elephant who can speak a number of words. 20-year old Kosik can speak about 7 words. Scientists want to know more about his ability. They might be able to prove, through Kosik, that elephants are capable of learning language. (If you're in a reader, visit the CBSNews website to view the video. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6939495n)

 

You've probably seen the videos of the dog saying "I love you" too. Do you think animals are capable of actually learning language? (Whether speaking or just understanding?) I know that my cats definitely understand certain words... but they don't always choose to pay attention!

--Tammy

Comments

[turtlecookie]

Interesting story! It would be fun to look into this in more depth. I don't that it would be possible for animals to learn to speak, say, English, since they would have difficulty using their vocal chords, throats, tongues, etc the way that humans do to create auditory languages. Many birds mimic sounds in their environment. Do they understand specific words or sounds? I don't know. We had a bird that would bark and meow and knew a few words. Do animals understand us when we speak? In many ways I think they do. They respond to our habits, our voices, and our words. Generally, I think they sense our emotions and key off of that, yet they also do seem to come to understand words that we use with them frequently. Certainly a dog can be trained to understand commands. Perhaps this is different from what the video is suggesting. Can they learn a language such that they can communicate using that language? Can we have conversation using words? We certainly have "conversations" regularly with body language, tone of voice, and some repetitive words. ("Treat?") Animals certainly sense of emotions (tension, fear, excitement, etc.) As for learning grammar and such? I think maybe not. But who knows? Fascinating idea.

Thanks for sharing the video.

Turtlecookie