Batyr (elephant)


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.
As in all cases of talking animals, these claims are subject to the observer-expectancy effect.
DOI 10.5281/ZENODO.17965946

Biography

Born on May 24, 1970, at Almaty Zoo, Batyr lived his entire life in the Karaganda Zoo at Karaganda in Kazakhstan. He died in 1993. Batyr was the offspring of once-wild Indian elephants and was the second child of his mother Palm and father Dubas, presented to Kazakhstan's Almaty Zoo by the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The first baby elephant was killed by his mother immediately after birth on May 15, 1968.

Abilities

Batyr, whose name is a Turkic word meaning 'dashing equestrian', 'man of courage' or 'athlete', was first alleged to speak just before New Year's Day in the winter of 1977 when he was seven years old. Zoo employees were the first to notice his "speech", but he soon delighted zoo-goers by appearing to ask his attendants for water and regularly praising or chastising himself. By 1979, his fame as the "speaking elephant" had spread in the wake of various mass-media stories about his abilities, many containing considerable fabrication and wild conjecture. Batyr's case was also included in several books on animal behaviour, and in the proceedings of several scientific conferences. These developments drew a spate of zoo visitors, and brought the offer of an exchange—Batyr for a rare bonobo—from the Czechoslovak Circus, an offer rejected by the zoo's employees.
A. N. Pogrebnoj-Aleksandroff, a young worker at the zoo who studied Batyr's abilities and wrote many publications about him, said of the elephant:
Batyr, on the level of natural blares, said words by manipulating his trunk. By putting the trunk in his mouth, pressing a tip of the trunk to the bottom of the jaw and manipulating the tongue, said words. Besides, being in a corner of the cage with the trunk softly hanging down, the elephant said words almost silently—a sound comparable with the sound of ultrasonic devices used against mosquitoes or the peep of mosquitoes, which human hearing hears well until approximately the age of 40. While pronouncing words, only the tip of the elephant's trunk is clamped inside and Batyr made subtle movements with a finger-shaped shoot on the trunk tip".

Various audiovisual recordings were made during Pogrebnoj-Aleksandroff's studies of Batyr and some of these have been transferred to Russia's Moscow State University for further study.

Death

Batyr died in 1993 when zookeepers accidentally gave him an overdose of sedatives. His death was reported worldwide.

Lexicon

It is claimed that Batyr had a vocabulary of about 20 words in the Russian and Kazakh languages. He reportedly imitated the sounds of other animals, and uttered short phrases including words of human slang. Batyr's lexicon list was compiled from audiovisual records, scientific researches and statistical data from eyewitnesses who heard the elephant themselves. Individual and disputable sounds were not considered. All other words as reported by the media were treated as fiction, second-hand and interpretations of retellings.
Full list of words and phrases reported to have been spoken by Batyr:
Using trunk in mouth:
  • Баты́р: 'Batyr', said abruptly;
  • Я: 'I'm', said very abruptly, in combination with his name, using long pronunciation; I'm-Batyr sounded almost together;
  • Ба́ты́р: 'Batyr', said thoughtfully-tenderly and lingeringly;
  • Батыр, Батыр, Батыр…: 'Batyr, Batyr, Batyr', joyfully running in a cage;
  • Батырушка: Batyrushka, an affectionate version of the name Batyr;
  • Воды́: 'water', a request;
  • Хоро́ший: 'good', as in good fellow;
  • Батыр хоро́ший: 'good Batyr';
  • Ой-ё-ёй: 'Oh-yo', sonorously;
  • Дурак: 'fool', seldom and abruptly;
  • Плохой: 'bad', rarely;
  • Батыр плохой: 'bad Batyr', rarely;
  • Иди́: 'go';
  • Иди хуй: 'go to hell', obscene Russian phrase; said for the first and only time during a telecast shooting;
  • Хуй: Russian curse word for 'penis', seldom and abruptly;
  • Ба́-ба: short form of babushka 'grandmother'; short children's sound ;
  • Да́: 'yes';
  • Дай: 'give ';
  • Дай-дай-дай: 'give, give, give';
  • Раз-два-три: 'one, two, three', while dancing, turning and hopping.
Other sounds:
  • A human-like whistle;
  • Human speech allegedly uttered at infrasonic and ultrasonic frequencies;
  • A gnashing sound imitative of rubber or polyfoam on glass;
  • The peep of rats or mice;
  • The bark of dogs;
  • The natural trumpeting of elephants.

Press

Reporter Richard Beeston in Moscow wrote the article "Soviet Zoo Has Talking Elephant":

Publication

Scientific

In books

The True History or Who is Talking? An Elephant!, Dr. A. Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff, 1979–1993. Reincarnation-Перевоплощение, Dr. A. Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff, 2001. Speaking Animals, A. Dubrov, 2001. Speaking Birds and Animals, O. Silaeva, V. Ilyichev, A. Dubrov, 2005.

Media

  • Student documentary film: Who speaks? The elephant… — VGIK — Moscow
  • Audio recording of Batyr's voice by scientist and writer Dr. A. Pogrebnoj-Alexandroff