By the human way of reckoning, Koko is surely the world's most accomplished gorilla, having mastered more than 1,000 words in American sign language. In doing so, she has helped overturn age-old preconceptions about the limits of animal intelligence, expressing thoughts and emotions of astonishing sophistication.
At The Gorilla Foundation in mountainous Woodside, California, where Koko has lived most of her life with her equally expressive male gorilla companion, Michael, researchers are working to uncover and better understand primate capabilities that once were thought to be exclusively human.
"All primates express emotions, but because of her command of sign language, Koko can convey to us feelings that her wild counterparts cannot," explains Dr. Francine (Penny) Patterson, who heads the Gorilla Foundation and has been working with Koko and teaching her sign language since 1972.
Although not unique, Koko is one of the few non-humans known to keep pets of a different species. She has cared for several cats and dogs over the years .
Koko
Can gorillas pretend play? Just ask Koko, though we think she'd probably tell you she would prefer to feed a real gorilla baby any day ? even over her favorite articulating baby doll (shown above).
Koko cares a lot about her caregivers and often shows them by signing "love" or "Koko Love" as shown above.
Koko often likes to pick up the phone when Penny is preoccuppied. Once she hit the redial button and called the Gorilla Foundation's business office. The surprised worker on the other end of the line didn't know what to make of the "purring" sounds, until she called Penny later to make the identification: Koko.
Kokos baby pics
