Intelligent Animals Imitating Human Sounds 2012 Update - Videos Inside.

Just came across a news website talking about an elephant that speaks Korean, I find it soooo interesting how some animals are intelligent enough to imitate human sounds, So i thought id share with you all some videos of Animals imitating human sounds or unique sounds.
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Elephant that speaks Korean Date of Event News - November 1, 2012
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An Asian elephant named Koshik can imitate human speech, speaking words in Korean that can be readily understood by those who know the language. The elephant accomplishes this in a most unusual way: he vocalizes with his trunk in his mouth. read more....



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NOC Whale Mimicking Human Speech - Date of Event News - October 22, 2012
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A new paper published by the National Marine Mammal Foundation in the scientific journal Current Biology sheds light on the ability of marine mammals to spontaneously mimic human speech. read more on youtube



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TALKING PARROT! AMAZING, HILARIOUS! (Subtitles Included) - Date of Event News - Jan 14, 2010
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This is Pierre, the 2 year old African Grey Parrot. read more on youtube



I wonder what it would be like in 2020? Surely the intelligence of animals mimicking humans are limited...

Your Thoughts?

I wonder what kind of head-trip the first person/people who came across a "talking" parrot went through? Reminds me of this fella:

My mom had an African Grey parrot and we had to be careful what we said around him. It was like a tape recorder that was always on. I was listening to the one in the video and just before he says, "Step up. Want some water?", I think he is whistling part of the theme song from the Andy Griffith show.

Is it possible, though, for animals to understand language? It's been known for years that dogs and other animals can be taught to respond to verbal commands. They have the ability to associate the command with the appropriate action. Much like a child is taught to associate objects with it's name by repetition, I would say that some animals show understanding, though somewhat limited.