Koko, a biography of everybody's favorite Gorilla

Koko, the lowland gorilla whom Penny (Francine) Patterson trained to use American Sign Language, is probably everyone's favorite gorilla. 

She was born on July 4, 1971, and has been taught to use more than 1,000 signs in American Sign Language (ASL).  She understands more than 2,000 English words. Koko was the first gorilla to  learn 1,000 words  of sign language.

Koko's name is from Hanabi-Ko in Japanese, which means Fireworks Child, honoring Koko's July 4th birthday.  She has inspired many, including author Michael Crichton, whose book Congo, featured Amy, a talking Ape.

Koko has been featured on PBS, numerous books have been written about her life, and several websites are dedicated to information about Koko.  Documentaries   include Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1977).

In 1998, Koko held a live chat on AOL.  (LiveKOKO is Koko, DrPPatrsn is Dr. Patterson.)

 I could not locate any public domain photos of Koko.

Koko has lived most of her life in California, but trainers have planned for her to move to a sanctuary in Hawaii, a move that has been years in the making, a plan that is nearing completion.

Koko's use of ASL has sparked debate.

Some experts believe that Koko does indeed understand language, whereas others believe her use of ASL is a result of operant conditioning, and that Koko does not understand the meaning behind the words she signs, but has learned to sign because her trainers have rewarded her for doing just that. Operant conditioning is a theory in which behavior is learned based on rewards or punishment associated with that behavior.

Koko has even had her IQ tested; her IQ falls somewhere between 70 and 95 on the human scale, where 100 is considered average or normal.

Personally, I believe Koko's use of ASL does indicate that she does understand  language, though operant conditioning is a strong force in much of human behavior, and that is a factor that cannot be ruled out as a contributing cause to Koko's understanding of language.

Cats and dogs understand the words we use that are important to them: with cats, these are mostly food words, but with dogs, these words include food, bath, leash, walk, among others.

Other experts doubt Koko's ability to express coherent thoughts via ASL. This theory states that it is the trainer who interprets how meaningful or not Koko's conversation is via ASL. 

However, Dr. Patterson has documented instances in which Koko has invented words, based on her knowledge of other words.

Penny Patterson claims that nobody taught Koko the word for ring.  She claims that Koko invented the word ring by combining the sign for finger and bracelet.

Animal language is somewhat controversial, with Patterson's use of ASL with Koko at the forefront of the controversy. Other research has been done with Bonobos, Kanzi and Panbanisha primates in which they have also been taught sign languages, and their offspring learned sign language from their parents.

Chimpanzees are known to talk to each other, to communicate danger by making specific low, rumbling noises, signaling danger for other chimps.

Prairie dogs have different alarm calls, based on species of predators and different escape behaviors for different species of predators.

Cats and dogs understand the words we use that are important to them: with cats, these are mostly food words, but with dogs, these words include food, bath, leash, walk, and others.

Cats and dogs also understand the varied, subtle sounds in nature that are variously associated with safety, danger or food. This is inherent in most intelligent mammals, I think, as an adaptive device.

Koko lived with her beloved Michael, a lowland Silverback gorilla, for years, until his death in 2000. Michael also learned ASL, but he was not as proficient as Koko. Michael is on record for having learned 600 ASL signs, an incredible feat, nonetheless.

Koko has had several pets, including her kitten All Ball, which was the subject of a well-known book by Scholastic, "Koko's Kitten." Scholastic Press, ISBN 0-590444-25-5).

Koko was a wonderful mother to All Ball, who was a tailless male gray cat. She treated him as she would have done if he were a baby gorilla. She carried him on her back and tried to nurse him.  Sometimes she dressed him up in napkins, or signed to him that she wanted to play a tickle game. 

(I don't understand the significance of napkins – does that mean Koko played dress up with All Ball? I sort of think it means that, but the source site did not state further.)

One day, it was all over. All Ball escaped from the gorilla cage and was killed by a car, over which Koko grieved. Her grief was publicized the world over.

According to one site, this is the conversation Koko had over All Ball's death:

When asked, "Do you want to talk about your kitty?"
Koko signed, "Cry."
"What happened to your kitty?"
Koko answered, "Sleep cat."
When she saw a picture of a cat who looked very much like All Ball, Koko pointed to the picture and signed, "Cry, sad, frown."

Koko's reaction in turn sparked debate over whether or not animals feel emotions in the human sense. I believe they do, based on experience with pets. Koko then had two other cats, Lipstick and Smoky.

According to books I have read about Koko, she loves to put on lipstick, loves the color red (animals are colorblind?) and loves to have parties.

Koko has been involved in some controversy and legal trouble. Apparently, Dr. Patterson may have encouraged some behavior of Koko, involving the exposing of female human breasts.

According to sexual harassment lawsuits, at least three former employees of Penny's claimed Penny pressured them into showing their breasts to Koko, alleging that Penny had told them their job was in danger if they did not comply and "indulge Koko's nipple fetish."

All harassment claims were settled in November 2005.

Two summers ago, Koko had a toothache, an event heard the world over. Her handlers stated that Koko signed that she was in pain, and indicated her pain level at level 9, on a scale of 1 to 10. Her tooth was extracted, and, once again, Koko was happy.