First, there are the obvious ones... like birds.
Most of them only imitate human speech, but of course they lack the ability to actually understand what they are saying - but, as always there are some exceptions.
Of course you remember Alex.
Dr. Irene Pepperberg researched parrots, and this African Grey was certainly the most intelligent bird of all of them. Alex could actually assemble words out of letters - he could read and spell. And he voiced his opinions too. For example whenever he got tired of frustrated, he would ask to be put back to his cage and left alone. You can actually see that at the end of this video too.
Also, in case you were wondering, parrots are not the only birds who will mimic human speech (even if they don't understand it).
There is for example the Hill Mynah bird - you probably never heard of this one before.
Of course there are ravens and crows who can also imitate people. Like Mischief here (raven), and this pet crow who sounds eerily human, not like a budgie...
Then there are lyrebirds, who can imitate ANY sounds that strike their fancy (including chainsaws and car alarms), mockingbirds and passerines.
But enough about the birds already.
Here are the more interesting ones. (And let's start with pets!)
Dogs... Yeah, sure, not as clear as birds, but some dogs can imitate sounds we make... Like... check Mishka out, who can apparently imitate 12 words.
And he is not alone with it. There are a whole bunch of videos going around the internet nowadays with dogs imitating us. Well, I guess it IS the best form of flattery.
So. If dogs can do it, how about cats? Yep...
I know, I know, it sounds hilarious. But just imagine, if they could further evolve into perfecting this... Are we ready for our cat overlords?
And the list doesn't end here.
Harbor seals can do it too... like Hoover here:
Or elephants!
They imitate voices by blowing air in their mouths using their trunk.
The following video is in Korean (and the elephant is also from Korea), so you probably won't understand much (not like I do), but I can tell you this, the elephant can apparently imitate the Korean words for "good", "no", "sit down", "hello" and "lie down".
After all the elephant paintings now they can talk? Are they going to take over our entertainment industry soon?
And, of course the video that gave me the idea of today's post...
A Beluga whale.
His name is NOC, and his talent was discovered when a diver came out of his tank and asked who told him to get out. Apparently the whale's mumbling made him think that someone is talking from outside of the tank, and it sounded to him like "out". It's pretty surprising, because beluga whales don't sound like this at all - they use higher frequencies for their vocalizations. Which meant that NOC had to practically alter how his voice sounded, and he did this all on his own, without being encouraged.
