Talking Animals: 5 Species That Can Mimic Human Speech

Animals mimicking different sounds is not something unnatural in the natural world. There are birds that could imitate the sound of car alarms and camera shutters, for example. Other predators have learned the calls of their prey to lure them to an untimely end.

However, there are some species that took it to a higher level and managed to learn human speech. Here are some of the animals that learned how to sound human.

1. The Babbling Beluga

During the Cold War, the American Navy captured a Beluga as part of their "Cold Ops" program. Named "Noc," the cetacean began making very strange vocalizations, with the resulting sound being akin to a pair of humans talking in the distance.

The vocalizations of Noc were definitely unusual for a whale, as it followed rhythm and amplitude very similar to that of human speech. Noc had taught himself to pressurize his vestibular sacs in order to produce the low frequencies found in human speech.

2. Korean-speaking Elephant

Though most animals can hardly imitate human speech, one adult male Asian elephant named Koshik has devised a way to do so. This 22-year-old pachyderm resides in captivity in South Korea.

At 16 years old, Koshik has learned to mimic all his keepers and reproduce five Korean words. Scientists believe the elephant does not understand the meaning of the words he is mimicking; he only picked up the trick in an attempt to bond with his human keepers.

Elephants naturally have a very deep voice, which is often out of human hearing range. Koshik achieves the frequency of human voice by putting his trunk in his mouth to build a vocal line.

3. The Speaking Seal

In 1971, George and Alice Swallow took in an orphaned harbor seal pup from Cundy Harbor, Maine. They kept the pup, named Hoover, in their bathtub until it grew too large, at which point they donated it to the New England Aquarium in Boston.

George told the aquarium staff that he thought the seal could talk, but no one believed him. After a few years, scientists at the aquarium noticed that Hoover's growling sounds appeared to be creating words and phrases.

Hoover's speaking became more understandable, with a Boston accent. However, he can speak only his own name and a few other words.

4. An Articulate Orca

Orca, better known as the killer whale, had long been thought to have the ability to imitate human speech. Scientists might have the first real evidence for killer whales attempting to learn by copying noises they hear.

In 2018, a 14-year-old orca that goes by the name of Wikie made a few sounds of 'hello' to a human. As time went by, he learned to speak out words and phrases including "bye-bye" and "Amy," the name of her trainer.

5. A Chatty Duck

The musk duck of Australia is the only known goose to mimic human speech and one particular example goes by the name "Ripper." Besides being able to imitate the sound of the closing of his cage door, it could say such words as, "You bloody fool." Perhaps its owner had been saying this phrase quite frequently, that it already got the hang of it.