R.I.P. Koko the gorilla

[OverCoronavirus Pressure]

Koko was not a he.

Don't be so gender- binary. Why you gotta put a gorilla in a sexuality cage?

 

[Slick_36]

Even Koko's own trainer said Koko was not special, and every gorilla has the ability to do what she did.

I imagine its because 1 gorilla doing it is amazing. A dozen gorillas that can sign would just become "normal" very fast, and funding/donations would stop coming in. There is no incentive to put in the time/money/resources.

There was another talking gorilla named Michael but he didn't learn as many words as Koko. They tried getting them to mate but it never happened. What was special was how committed Francine Patterson was to working with Koko and Michael. She had Koko since she was a baby and was basically her mother for her entire life. She never had kids so Koko was her life and her life's work. There wasn't much interest in psychology during the beginning and much less in animal psychology which was thought of as a waste of time. There's not much money to make in communicating with apes, so there's no funding. It takes incredible commitment and a wealth of resources to achieve this, which rarely exist simultaneously.

 

[Slick_36]

Is that pretty old for a gorilla? I thought they lived like 30-35 years.

Very old. I've had a feeling this was going to happen any day now. I'm glad to see people care, her and Francine are really special and should be inspiring.

 

[Slick_36]

Having gorillas communicate with each other in a language that humans can understand would be pretty amazing and insightful, imo. We could be witnessing how animals communicate with eachother, how they see the world, and themselves in a human language.

I've really wanted to work with Orangutans and start something like this. Truly connecting with nature might change humanity's view of the Earth and our role in it. Gorillas are incredibly family oriented and are probably more likely to successfully learn communication with people and engage. Koko was obsessed with becoming a mother, which is why she had so many kittens. She was desperate to take care of something, she had dolls that she would nurture like a little girl playing house. Man, I fucking loved that gorilla. Losing Vader and Koko in the same week really sucks.

 

[MusclesMarinara]

And how about that airline food.

My arms are tired.

 

[VitorReem]

Terrible news. God Bless you KOKO. You’re in a far better place now.

 

[RayA]

What does truse mean? It's probably a typo, but I don't even know what other word it could be similar to trused.

Wtf? I wrote that on my phone, it was suppose to be "tried".