RIP KoKo (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

WOODSIDE, Calif. — Koko, the gorilla who mastered sign language, has died.

The Gorilla Foundation says the 46-year-old western lowland gorilla died in its 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, the gorilla who knew sign language, dies at 46



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ihC6QHS_m0





View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC4C_Gcp_dM

 

[Madmarsha]

Awwww. So sad. Hope she had a good life, though.

 

[Zack Lee]

what a really cool story.



thought I would also add some of my favorite Koko photos

 

[SharonT]

Koko met with her favorite TV stars from time to time:

Mr. Rogers = love


View: https://youtu.be/cn79Lgfh1hw


And Robin Williams = laughing


View: https://youtu.be/GorgFtCqPEs

 

[Heathen Saint]

RIP Fam...

 

[WhoDatPhan78]

I miss Robin Williams.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

cited her a few times in undergrad psych papers
really incredible story

 

[Sun Wukong]

I was super fascinated with Koko as a kid. As I got older and did more research, especially once I started studying linguistics and communication in college, it became clear that the story was perhaps not as it was presented and, while she clearly did know some signs, there are serious questions as to her ability to spontaneously communicate or understand language in the abstract.

In other words, it seems like a lot of her signing was coached or responsive in nature, and even then usually required a great deal of "interpretation" by her primary handler. She almost never generated signing without significant prompting. Still an interesting story, but there was unquestionably some carny stuff going on there, shades of Clever Hans the Counting Horse.

 

[Zack Lee]

That’s kind of what I assumed as well. Still a cool story

 

[Madmarsha]

I miss Robin Williams.

Yeah, I almost wish I wouldn't have watched that. I am still wigged out by his death and how it happened ... and it's been a little renewed by the recent celebrity suicides. Robin seemed to really FEEL humanity in a wondrous and deep way (my favorite movie of his is What Dreams May Come. It's come to inform MY vision of what heaven is like for me).