Hoover was a harbor seal

Harbor Seal

The harbor seal , also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere...

 who was able to imitate basic human speech.

He was an orphan when he was found by George and Alice Swallow in Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 in 1971. George and Alice decided to take him home. At first the baby seal didn't want to eat, but soon he ate at the pace of a vacuum cleaner

Vacuum cleaner

A vacuum cleaner, commonly referred to as a "vacuum," is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal...

 (hence his name). When Hoover outgrew the bathtub, he was transferred to the pond outside their house where he began to imitate people's voices. Again he was moved, this time to the New England Aquarium

New England Aquarium

The New England Aquarium is an aquarium located in Boston, Massachusetts.In addition to the main aquarium building, attractions at the New England Aquarium include the Simons IMAX Theatre and the New England Aquarium Whale Watch, which operates from April through November...

, where he told visitors to "Get outta here!" or "Well Hello Deah" in a thick New England accent.

Thanks to this, he became famous, and appeared in publications like Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...

and The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

and television programs like Good Morning America

Good Morning America

Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

.

Hoover died on July 25, 1985 due to complications during his annual molt. His obituary

Obituary

An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

 was published in The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...

.

None of Hoover's six pups (daughters Joey, Amelia, and Trumpet and sons Lucifer, Cinder, and Spark) spoke, but his grandson Chacoda (or "Chucky") has shown an ability to be guided in his vocalizations. As of 2007, Chucky remains vocal but has not shown an ability to mimic human speech. Aquarium staff continue to work with him.

See also

• Batyr
  Batyr
  Batyr was an Asian elephant claimed to be able to use a large amount of meaningful human speech. Living in a zoo in Kazakhstan, Batyr was reported as having a vocabulary of more than 20 phrases....
  
  
• Vocal learning
  Vocal learning
  Vocal learning is the ability of animals to modify vocal signals in form as a result of experience with those of other individuals. This can lead to signals that are either similar or dissimilar to the model...
  
  
• Talking animal
  Talking animal
  A talking animal or speaking animal refers to any form of non-human animal which can produce sounds resembling those of a human language. Many species or groups of animals have developed forms of Animal Communication Systems which to some appear to be a non-verbal language...
  
  
• Gef
  GEF
  GEF or Gef may refer to:*Gef the talking mongoose, a famed poltergeist story from the Isle of Man*Global Electronics Forum*Global Environment Facility*Graphical Editing Framework*Guanine nucleotide exchange factor, activators of G proteins...
  
   the talking mongoose
• Koko
  Koko (gorilla)
  Koko is a female western lowland gorilla who, according to Francine "Penny" Patterson, is able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English....
  
  , the gorilla that knows American Sign Language
  American Sign Language
  American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...