I read this morning in the paper about an elephant named Koshik who can say audible words in Korean (since he's in a zoo in South Korea). This has been confirmed by independent German scientists. He began verbalizing when two other elephants were relocated and he was lonely. He speaks to his trainers. He uses his trunk in his mouth to make the sounds. This one story is worth more to me than anything about the election, economy or our culture of famous untalented persons. Joy arises in me from the knowledge that an elephant is taking the initiative in bridging the species gap. His trainers did not teach him this. He figured it out by himself. The article says in 1983, some Russian elephants could speak 20 Russian phrases, but there was no scientific study done to confirm it. Talk about the struggle to suvive and adaptability!
Hopefully, Koshik will dictate poems next, and also come out with a statement on world peace and intraspecies cooperation. He will speak up for the rainforests and plains and rivers. I, for one, will be waiting and listening.
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