Koko, gorilla who communicated in sign language, dies at 46
SAN FRANCISCO — 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 learned 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, she ran around with Williams’ eyeglasses and unzipped Rogers’ cardigan sweater.
The Gorilla Foundation said the 280- pound western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation’s preserve in California’s Santa Cruz mountains Tuesday.
Koko was the 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 the individual was supersmart, like all the apes, and also sensitive, something not everyone expected from a ‘ king kong’ type animal that movies depict as dangerous and formidable,” Emory University researcher Frans de Waal said in an email Thursday.
Despite attempts by her keepers to introduce male partners, Koko never became a mother. Instead, she had a series of kittens as pets.
Koko’s real name was Hanabi- Ko, Japanese for fireworks child. She was born July 4, 1971, at the San Francisco Zoo.
Koko frequently asked to see people’s nipples, a habit that led to controversy more than a dozen years ago, when two former caretakers said they were fired for refusing to bare their breasts to the gorilla. The women settled with the foundation in 2005. Video shows Koko grabbing for Williams’ chest area and Shatner’s groin.