It is a known fact now that the elephants are intelligent. They have demonstrated their impressive mental capabilities time and again. Researchers also believe that the giant proportions can even distinguish differences in human gender, age and ethnicity purely by the sound of someone’s voice. In fact, they understand human language very well. These three elephants from Karnataka’s Bandipur National Park are now gearing up to learn Hindi. They were brought to Jharkand’s Palamu Tiger Reserve where the officials have decided to teach them Hindi. And so that language does not stand as a barrier between the elephants and the local mahouts, the caretakers on the other hand will be taught Kannada.

As per Hindustan Times report, two mahouts and a kawadi, one who arranges food and washes elephants from Karnataka are helping the elephants named, Kaal Bhairav, Sita and her calf Murugesan settle in the new environment. So, far the elephants obediently understand and responds to Kannada but as they are now shifted to a new home, they are finding difficulties to get along with a new language. As they will take some time to fully cope with Hindi, their new mahouts will be taught Kannada so that nothing gets lost in translation. The reserve’s field director MP Singh was quoted in the report saying, “Earlier, we expected this to happen in a month’s time, but it is now expected to take longer.” Hence, not just the elephants but their handlers also have some learnings to do!

Manjul and Mari are the trainers. Lal Bihari and Yogendra will learn commands in Kannada from Kaal Bhairav’s mahout, Manjul and then train the animal to respond to the same language. On the other hand, Sita and Murugesan will learn Hindi from Ramprasad and Birendra, who in turn will take Kannada lesson from their mahout Mari.

Like, we said, elephants are quick to pick things. They are the planet’s largest terrestrial mammal and a fascinating creature. But we cannot also deny the fact that they remain an unfortunate target of torture and poaching. In this case, the elephants will patrol the jungles and also be part of Safari expeditions which has been introduced to Palamu Tiger Reserve since March 27, 2018. If they are taught in an appropriate manner, they will naturally overcome with the language barrier soon. And we hope that they are not abused or forced to entertain the public!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 17, 2018 01:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).