Koko, the gorilla who knew sign language, dies at 46

originally posted by: IShotMyLastMuse
didn't she also talk to robin williams on at least one occasion?
truly an exceptional...what? creature? half human? more human? who knows.
i just hope somewhere in her head she knew that she has inspired countless people to understand, appreciate, and preserve her kind, and maybe reflect on who, way too often, the real animal is.

Yea, it's rumored that she cried when told of Robins passing.

a reply to: Chickensalad

Thank you, I forgot about Mr. Rogers.
Here you go, for all to enjoy.

www.youtube.com...
Mr. Rogers visits

www.youtube.com...
Robin Williams visits

www.youtube.com...
Kittens visit

I think that was the greatest gift to her -- giving her her inner voice that she learned to use to talk to herself.

Imagine not having that inner voice, as animals going through an entire life? Imagine if we didn't? How would you organize your thoughts? Would your thoughts just be images and feelings if we didn't have language to organize them into?

Imagine how much she jumped on the evolutionary scale just by having that inner voice?

We need to teach more animals how to be self-aware, as they are obviously capable of it.

Thanks, Augustus... now I'm watching old Koko videos on Youtube and sobbing like a Hillary voter on election night.

originally posted by: IAMTAT

Thanks, Augustus... now I'm watching old Koko videos on Youtube and sobbing like a Hillary voter on election night.

Sorry man. The kitten video did me in too.

Update on Koko and her Kittens (2018)

RIP Koko, now protector of all kitties in the afterlife.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Gutted .
She is with allball now.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

There was a grace to that creature that is not only rare amongst things of such physical size, but also amongst the human race. What a special person, what a great character!

The world is a lesser place for her passing. Godspeed Koko.

As someone fascinated with animal intelligence and as a caring human being I find this to be a great loss, in terms of both science and in the terms of losing another rare unique a special individual on this planet. What more could we have learned from you Koko and may your long rest be a peaceful one.

originally posted by: Kharron
I think that was the greatest gift to her -- giving her her inner voice that she learned to use to talk to herself.

Imagine not having that inner voice, as animals going through an entire life? Imagine if we didn't? How would you organize your thoughts? Would your thoughts just be images and feelings if we didn't have language to organize them into?

Imagine how much she jumped on the evolutionary scale just by having that inner voice?

We need to teach more animals how to be self-aware, as they are obviously capable of it.

Do you really think we taught that gorilla self awareness? I wonder if they are like that to begin with.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

 

WOODSIDE, Calif. — Koko, the gorilla who mastered sign language, has died.
The Gorilla Foundation says the 46-year-old western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation's preserve in California's Santa Cruz mountains on Tuesday. Source

I intentionally put this under the 'People' forum as Koko, and other primates like her, have demonstrated a level of self-awareness, personality, sentience and the ability to communicate abstractly that we attribute to us hairless monkeys.

Koko always fascinated me as she found other apes, unable to communicate in sign language like her, as 'stupid' and, to her credit, also called many humans 'stupid'.

Her ability to communicate and devise ways to communicate about items/objects she had never seen before, displays a level of intelligence we tend not to ascribe to living things other than humans. There are numerous examples of her creating new sign language phrases and even 'talking to herself' when she was unware that she was being recorded via hidden cameras.

Take some time today and ponder what it means to be 'a person' and what maks each of us so unique and extraordinary and then stop and think how wonderful and extraordniary Koko was and what she was able to teach us in her 46 years on this planet.

 

She was amazing, we could learn a lot from her and I hope we did

Koko playing with her kittens: