Koko teaches us back the meaning of the word ‘sad’
We ascribe human qualities to animals.
Still, few of them get assigned as much humanity as Koko, the western lowland gorilla that purportedly could “speak” in sign language about 1,000 words, including her emotions.
That point is clear in many stories written Thursday disclosing Koko’s death. They read like classic obits, including the standard second sentence of the genre: “She was 46.”
It was touching. And fitting. Koko died in her sleep on Tuesday. In the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, not overly far from the San Francisco Zoo that was the place of her birth.
Koko deserved the acclaim, of course.
She was a celebrated ape, even at birth. She was named Hanabi-ko — Japanese for “fireworks child,” because she was born on the Fourth of July in 1971, although it was her nickname Koko that stuck. And she grew quickly to be an overachiever, learning at the age of 1 a version of American Sign Language.
By 7, she had solidified her rock-star status, appearing on the cover of National Geographic, featuring her taking a selfie (in a mirror). A second magazine cover years later showed her cradling a pet kitten against her chest.
Koko’s relationship with kittens, in many ways, affirmed the notion that she — and by extension, other animals, in general, and gorillas, in particular — possessed emotions and the capacity to express them. One kitten that she loved most, a tailless tabby she named “AllBall,” was hit by a car and killed. Koko reportedly grieved for months, and signed “sad bad trouble.”
The interactions with kittens and with celebrities the likes of Fred Rogers (of PBS’ “Mister Rogers” fame) and Robin Williams made Koko internationally famous and sometimes overshadowed the more profound scientific work and findings produced through her — about language and non-verbal communication, animal intelligence and humanlike traits such as empathy and humor.
Koko’s intelligence and communication skills as interpreted by her handlers may have been overstated. In recent years, there have been reports challenging whether some of the responses and “words” attributed to Koko were coaxed, misinterpreted or simply researchers projecting themselves onto her.
In other words, that if Koko appears humanlike, it’s a result of us projecting our humanity onto her.
This may be a case of cynics projecting their motives on her, as well. At the very least, Koko was a gifted animal from whom we could draw inspiration.
I don’t know whether Koko truly grasped and mourned when told, in signing, of All-Ball and Robin Williams’ deaths. I know we do hers.