Gorilla who learned sign language dies at 46
Koko watched movies and television and her favourite book was ‘The Three Little Kittens’
Koko the gorilla, whose remarkable sign-language ability and motherly attachment to pet cats helped change the world’s views about the intelligence of animals and their capacity for empathy, has died at 46.
Koko was taught sign language from an early age as a scientific test subject and eventually learnt more than 1,000 words, a vocabulary similar to that of a human toddler.
She became a celebrity who played with the likes of William Shatner, Sting, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robin Williams and Mr. Rogers. At her home preserve, where she was treated like a queen, she ran around with Williams’ eyeglasses and unzipped Roger’s famous cardigan sweater.
In so doing, Koko showed the American public that a giant ape didn’t have to be scary but wanted to be tickled and hugged.
The Gorilla Foundation said the 280-pound (127kg) western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation’s preserve in California’s Santa Cruz mountains on Tuesday.
Koko was not the first animal to learn sign language and communicate, but through books and media appearances she became the most famous. Yet there was debate in the scientific community about how deep and human-like her conversations were.
Koko appeared in many documentaries, including a 2015 PBS one, and twice in National Geographic. The gorilla’s 1978 National Geographic cover featured a photo that the animal had taken of herself in a mirror.
“Koko the individual was supersmart,” Emory University primate researcher Frans de Waal said. “It changed the image of apes, and gorillas in particular, for the better, such as through the children’s book Koko’s Kitten.
Koko watched movies and television, with her handlers saying her favourite book was The Three Little Kittens.