Elephant learns Korean

Koshik the talking elephant

SCIENTISTS say an elephant in a South Korean zoo is using his trunk to imitate human speech.

An international team of researchers says Koshik can reproduce five Korean words by tucking his trunk inside his mouth and modulating the sound coming from his throat.

The discovery was reported online on Friday on the website Current Biology.

Koshik can say annyeong (hello), anja (sit down), aniya (no), nuwo (lie down) and joa (good).

Researchers believe the Asian elephant learned to speak out of a desire to bond with his trainers after he was separated from two other elephants.

In 1983, zoo officials in Kazakhstan claimed their elephant could reproduce Russian words. But there was no scientific study.

- AP