Koko is a female gorilla. According to genetic research, she is one of the western lowland gorillas. Koko knows no less than 1000 signs in sign language. She also understands over 2000 words in English. Psychologist Francine Patterson and other Stanford scientists taught her this. Gorilla Koko lived with a male gorilla named Michael for a while. Michael died in 2000 and now Koko has a new boyfriend named Ndume. Gorilla Koko resides in Woodside, a place in the forested highlands of the American state of California.
Gorilla Koko
Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo in 1971. She spent the first six months of her life in the zoo. Here visitors could see her behind glass. After six months, Koko fell ill and was moved to a trailer at the zoo. After a year of recovery, Koko came into contact with Stanford University graduate Penny Patterson. Penny Patterson asked the zoo for permission to investigate the female gorilla. She would do this research on behalf of Stanford University in order to obtain her academic degree in the field of psychology. The zoo agreed to the proposal as long as the investigation lasted a minimum of four years.
Stanford University
In 1974, Koko was moved with her trailer from the San Francisco Zoo to Stanford University. Here Penny Patterson got help from Dr. Ron Cohn in the investigation of Koko. Over the years of the research, Koko developed a strong bond with her nurses Penny and Ron. Koko had a particularly strong emotional bond with Penny. The gorilla learned many signals in sign language and words in English over the years of the research. In 1976, Koko was introduced to a male gorilla that she had chosen herself. Michael became her new companion and played an important role in the investigation. The acquaintance between Koko and Michael was difficult at first. In the end they became good friends and not partners. The team and gorillas moved to the forested highlands of Woodside, California, USA in 1979. Koko’s trailer was also taken to the new destination.
Sign language
Koko is an exceptional gorilla. Not only has she learned over the years to recognize more than 1000 different signals and understand more than 2000 individual words in English, she is also able to communicate her own emotions through gestures. The first gestures she learned had to do with eating and drinking. Koko can now ask for cornflakes if she feels like it. Koko also asks her nurse questions by means of gestures, she frowns with her eyebrows and likes to make drawings. If the assignments are too easy or the language lesson is too simple, Koko makes it clear to caretaker Ron Cohn.
Scientific research ‘Project Koko’
Her IQ on the human scale is between 75 and 95. This is shown by a test done with the gorilla. Penny’s research is partly aimed at ensuring that learned communication can contribute to structured interactions between gorillas in the wild and nature. During the investigation it became clear that sign language and signals were exchanged between the gorillas Koko and Michael. Thus, desirable behavior could be transferred between the gorillas in this way. The scientific research has lasted a total of more than 40 years (in 2016). This period has led to the strong emotional bond between Koko and her nurse and researcher Penny Patterson. This is unique because never in history has there been so long communicative contact between humans and animals in the context of scientific research and probably cannot be repeated.
Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)
Koko belongs, within the gorilla family, to the western gorilla. The natural habitat of the western gorilla is West Africa. The area runs from southern Nigeria to Angola. They are typical forest dwellers that eat edible fruits, leaves, stems and seeds, among other things. The western gorilla has mainly black fur as its main color and can weigh between 68 and 200 pounds. Males of this species can be recognized by the long fangs and solid hard comb on the skull. On their back they have a ‘saddle’ of silver-gray hair, hence the name silverback. The western gorilla has an estimated population of 90,000 in the world.