koko the gorilla

Calgary, Alberta
July 4, 2012 2:39pm CST
there is a popular Gorilla who had been known since 1970's, her is KoKo, she is popular for many reasons, first she knows how to do sign language and talk to humans. then she have a fascination with dolls and stuff toys, as in she is treating them like they were real. Then the incredible thing about her, she love adopting kittens and cats, There is a Kitten that use to visit her cage everyday and she always plays with it and have it as her friend, the kitten died because of a road accident because its a feral kitten and I guess its got hit by a car. so yeah the Kitten's death makes her depressed, her care takers gave her new kittens and she is happy again. This is her having her new kittens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_906175&v=P1vV3Kf4WoA&src_vid=CQCOHUXmEZg this is her doing sign language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmuu8UEi2ko Koko seemed to have a desire to be a mother but they didnt let her and I think she is menopause now cos she is 41 at this moment so giving her a mate wont work. few years ago they did gave her a Male Gorrilla to live with her but she never mated with him because she said that she only see him as a brother. so yeah Koko is an old maid, never have a chance to have a family, If she is a human she must be a catlady because she adopts cats and kittens.
1 response
Just an Ordinary Owl?
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
4 Jul 12
Koko is definitely a person. I think that one of the scientists defined a 'person' as someone who can recognise their own individuality. The fact that she has learned to communicate in a particular way that humans can understand and that she clearly uses signs in an inventive and original way to form sentences and even new words/names for things, indicates that gorillas and humans have something in common. Koko is nothing special as a gorilla. She is about as intelligent as any of her species but, of course, she has been taken out of her own environment and has learned to live in quite a foreign one. Some of the things she does are 'gorilla' and some are 'human' (just as a human child has to learn to be 'human'). In one sense, she is an animal who has been taught some 'tricks' but in another sense she is a person who shows emotions, intelligence and strong preferences and dislikes and can express them to others.
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