Batyr

Post of Kazakhstan, Public domain

Asian elephant (Indian subspecies — Elephas maximus indicus) from Karaganda Zoo, known for his ability to mimic human speech (1970–1993)

Batyr was an Asian elephant claimed to be able to use a large amount of meaningful human speech. Living in a zoo in Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union, Batyr was reported as having a vocabulary of more than 20 phrases. A recording of Batyr saying "Batyr is good", his name and using words such as drink and give was played on Kazakh state radio and on the Soviet Central Television programme Vremya in 1980.

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