In 1971, a fisherman raised an orphaned seal. It grew up speaking English with a Maine accent

Sometimes, the most special bonds are between a man and an animal. In 1971, local Maine fisherman George Swallow came across a seal at Bethal Point that was just a few weeks old. Instead of leaving the orphan seal to die, he took on the responsibility of nursing and caring for Hoover. During this time, Swallow would often speak to Hoover and hand-feed him with a bottle. However, when Hoover got too big for Swallow, he gave him to the New England Aquarium in Boston in 1976. Five years later, Hoover did something no one expected him to do — he started speaking in English, according to IFL Science. The New England Aquarium also shared a clip of Hoover talking that has reached 927,000 views and gotten 7,500 likes.

Hoover has an accent

Experts who studied sound visualizations revealed that Hoover's speech was extremely human-like. The modulations he used for vowels and consonants were the same that humans spoke. Some of the common phrases Hoover would say include "hello there," "come over here," "hurry," and "hey, hey." The best part about Hoover's mimicking sounds was that he was clearly understandable, but he also did it with a Maine accent. He probably got the accent from Swallow, who nursed him as a baby.

Hoover's spoke to attract the females

People often asked why he started "speaking" five years later, and experts believed that he became vocal after hitting his sexual maturity. He was often observed "speaking" to female seals during the breeding season. They compared it to the breeding songs of male harbor seals. Dr Tecumseh Fitch, a specialist in language evolution at St Andrews University, said, "This time delay is reminiscent of bird song learning: young birds learn the song in the nest but don’t begin singing themselves until they mature. Unfortunately, there is very little else known about seal imitation, and Hoover has since died." Hoover passed away at 14 years old in 1985 due to complications during his annual molt.

Unconventional pets

Another unique story of a human-wild animal bond is that of Gilberto "Chito" Shedden and his crocodile, Pocho. Chito was fishing one day when he saw an injured crocodile and took it home. Even though his family was against it, Chito never gave up on the reptile. After several weeks of feeding and petting Pocho, he finally trusted Chito. When he got better, Chito released him to the wild, but Pocho never left. That was when Chito knew that their bond was sealed. They spent years together playing in the water and doing tricks. They were together for 20 years until Pocho passed away in 2011. While Hoover and Pocho were certainly unconventional pets, they had strong bonds with their humans.

'Get outta here'

Several people in the comment section shared their memories and experiences when they met Hoover. Several others  @dogdillon2 compared Hoover's voice to Jerma985, an American YouTuber, saying, "Can't believe Jerma is the reincarnation of a seal." @Raz-G added, "He sounds like an old chap with a monocle and a tophat, saying that."

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