Koko the Gorilla, dead at 46

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https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/koko-the-gorilla-who-knew-sign-language-dies-at-46-1.3982713
WOODSIDE, Calif. -- Koko, the gorilla who mastered sign language, has died.

The Gorilla Foundation says the 46-year-old western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation's preserve in California's Santa Cruz mountains on Tuesday.

Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo, and Dr. Francine Patterson began teaching the gorilla sign language that became part of a Stanford University project in 1974.

The foundation says Koko's capacity for language and empathy opened the minds and hearts of millions.

Koko appeared in many documentaries and twice in National Geographic. The gorilla's 1978 cover featured a photo that the animal had taken of herself in a mirror.
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Really sad news, she was a real sweetheart and helped us understand the connection between apes and humans betters.

RIP, now she can be with her kittens again
 
"kitty....i dont feel so good"
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Rest in peace Koko, in your honor, here are some favorite sayings of hers.

PENNY: Koko, do you like to talk to people?

KOKO: Fine nipple.

PENNY: Yes, that was her answer. 'Nipple' rhymes with 'people,' OK? She doesn't sign people per se, so she may be trying to do a 'sounds like...' but she indicated it was 'fine.'

...

AOL: MInyKitty asks Koko are you going to have a baby in the future?

PENNY: OK, is that for Koko? Koko are you going to have a baby in the future?

KOKO: Koko-love eat ... sip.

AOL: Me too!

PENNY: What about a baby? You going to have baby? She's just thinking...her hands are together...

KOKO: Unattention.

PENNY: Oh poor sweetheart. She said 'unattention.' She covered her face with her hands..which means it's not happening, basically, or it hasn't happened yet. . . I don't see it.
 
First time I heard of Koko was from that Koko's Kitten book.

Maybe she'll get to see Ball again.
 
Yeah, as with any story involving scientists and monkeys, this is all a big fat lie. The monkey couldn't be interpreted by anyone except her handlers. Although I believe the handlers convinced themselves she was speaking to them, it seems more like the monkey learned a few tricks (animals are good at learning what things to do to get food) and, like any monkey story, the media just ate it up and it entered the human conciousness.

There was a story floating around about an experiment where researchers taught monkeys to dip potatoes in the salt water to improve the flavor. The story continues, claiming that once about 100 monkeys had picked up the behavior, it spontaneously spread to other monkeys that had no contact with these ones. They called it the 100 monkey theory, and basically it was supposed to be some evidence of some sort of... I don't know, shared conciousness or something? But it's not true, it never happened.

Another monkey story is the one about monkeys who are sprayed with a firehose when they tried to climb a pole to get some bananas. Eventually they stop trying to get the bananas. Then new monkeys are introduced. When the new monkeys try to climb for the banana, the original monkeys pull them down, because they remember the fire hose. Then, finally, the original monkeys are removed, and a third set of monkeys goes in with the second. As the story goes, the second group of monkeys then proceeded to prevent the third group of monkeys from climbing, even though they had never faced a negative consequence from it like the first group had. Thus, this was a statement about human nature, we would propagate unhelpful behavior without understanding why, just like those stupid monkeys did. Except, again, this never happened.

Edit: This comes across as cold. While the "Talking Gorilla" part is bs, it's too bad this gorilla died. And I hate that the talking part is fake, because the best part of the Koko story was when she supposedly ripped the sink out of the wall in anger, then later tried to blame it on the cat. That's hilarious...
 
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I also first heard about her as a kid, so this is pretty sad. I remember how she wanted a baby (and a mate) really badly. At least she's with All Ball now.
 
(:_(
this is the worst news I've read in a while...
She's with her kittens and Robin Williams now.

F.
 
I heard Koko and Harambe are hitting it up in Gorilla Heaven, here's a leaked photo of it.
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Aww, I loved Koko.(:_( She was old for a gorilla though. Sad that she never got to have a baby, they tried to pair her up a few times. If I remember the story correctly there was a male gorilla reserchers hoped she'd pair up with but they had grown up together and been taught sign language at the same time so they saw each other more as siblings than as potential mates. (They also used to get into fights when they were young and sign mean things like "stupid stinky gorilla" at each other)
There was also the time she grabbed William Shatner by the nutsack, that was pretty funny.
Koko was a diva, bless her.
 
I have no idea what to feel about this. I also grew up reading and learning about Koko and her kittens, so the news hits hard. But I strongly suspect there was some Clever Hans-style deception, delusion, or just bad science being done with Koko's sign language communication. Not allowing third parties to really test the validity of the claims made about Koko always made me suspicious.

Regardless, gorillas are intelligent animals, and they undoubtedly have a richer "inner life" than we understand. I hope she enjoyed her life. RIP, Koko.

Kurosaki Ichigo said:
(:_(
this is the worst news I've read in a while...
She's with her kittens and Robin Williams now.

F.
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All those hairy creatures, together for all eternity :feels:
 
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