Hanabiko "Koko" (July 4, 1971 - June 19, 2018) was a female western lowland gorilla known for having learned a large number of hand signs from a modified version of American Sign Language (ASL). Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo and lived most of her life in Woodside, California, at The Gorilla Foundation's preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The name "Hanabiko" (???), lit. 'fireworks child', is of Japanese origin and is a reference to her date of birth, the Fourth of July. Koko gained public attention upon a report of her having adopted a kitten as a pet and creating a name for him.
Her instructor and caregiver, Francine Patterson, reported that Koko was able to understand more than 1,000 signs of what Patterson calls "Gorilla Sign Language" (GSL). In contrast to other experiments attempting to teach sign language to non-human primates, Patterson simultaneously exposed Koko to spoken English from an early age. It was reported that Koko understood approximately 2,000 words of spoken English, in addition to the signs. Koko's life and learning process has been described by Patterson and various collaborators in a number of books, peer-reviewed scientific articles, and on a website.
As with other great-ape language experiments, the extent to which Koko mastered and demonstrated language through the use of these signs is disputed. It is generally accepted that she did not use syntax or grammar, and that her use of language did not exceed that of a young human child. However, she scored between 70 and 90 on various IQ scales, and some experts, including Mary Lee Jensvold, claim that "Koko...[used] language the same way people do".
Video Koko (gorilla)
Life
Early life
Koko was born to her mother, Jacqueline and father, Bwana on July 4, 1971, at the San Francisco Zoo. Koko was the 50th gorilla born in captivity and one of the first gorillas accepted by her mother in captivity. Koko remained with her mother until the age of one when she was taken to the zoo's hospital to be treated for a life-threatening illness.
Patterson originally cared for Koko at the San Francisco Zoo as part of her doctoral research after Koko developed a life-threatening illness. Koko was loaned to Patterson and subsequently remained with her, supported by The Gorilla Foundation.
In Woodside California
After Patterson's research with Koko was completed at Stanford University the gorilla moved to a preserve in Woodside, California. At the preserve, Koko lived with another gorilla, Michael, who also learned sign language, but he died in 2000. She lived with a male gorilla, Ndume, until her death.
At the preserve, Koko met and interacted with a variety of celebrities including Robin Williams, Fred Rogers, Betty White, William Shatner, Flea, Leonardo DiCaprio, Peter Gabriel, and Sting.
Koko's weight of 280 pounds (127 kg) was higher than would be normal for a gorilla in the wild, where the average weight is approximately 150-200 pounds (70-90 kg), but the foundation stated that Koko "is, like her mother, a larger frame Gorilla".
Koko was reported to have a preoccupation with both male and female human nipples, with several people saying that Koko requested to see their nipples. In 2005, three staff at The Gorilla Foundation, where Koko resided, filed lawsuits against the organization, alleging that they were pressured to reveal their nipples to Koko by the organization's executive director, among other violations of labor law. The lawsuits were settled out of court. Gorilla expert Kristen Lukas has said that other gorillas are not known to have had a similar nipple fixation.
Death
Koko died in her sleep during the morning of June 19, 2018, at the Gorilla Foundation's preserve in Woodside, California, at the age of 46. The Gorilla Foundation released a statement that "[h]er impact has been profound and what she has taught us about emotional capacity of gorillas and their cognitive abilities will continue to shape the world." Even though Koko was 46 years old when she died, which is past the average life expectancy of a gorilla, her death was unexpected amongst staff members of the Gorilla Foundation.
Maps Koko (gorilla)
Use of language
Patterson reported that Koko's use of signs indicate that she mastered the use of sign language. Koko's training began at the age of 1, and according to Patterson, she was able to use more than 1,000 signs, including giving people the finger.
Patterson reported that Koko made several complex uses of signs that suggested a more developed degree of cognition than is usually attributed to non-human primates and their use of communication. For example, Koko was reported to use displacement (the ability to communicate about objects not currently present). At age 19, Koko was able to pass the mirror test of self-recognition, which most other gorillas fail. She had been reported to relay personal memories. Koko was reported to use meta-language, being able to use language reflexively to speak about language itself, signing "good sign" to another gorilla who successfully used signing. Koko was reported to use language deceptively, and to use counterfactual statements for humorous effects, suggesting an underlying theory of other minds.
Patterson reported that she documented Koko inventing new signs to communicate novel thoughts. For example, she said that nobody taught Koko the word for "ring", but to refer to it, Koko combined the words "finger" and "bracelet", hence "finger-bracelet".
Criticism from some scientists centered on the fact that while publications often appeared in the popular press about Koko, scientific publications with substantial data were fewer in number. Other researchers argued that Koko did not understand the meaning behind what she was doing and learnt to complete the signs simply because the researchers rewarded her for doing so (indicating that her actions were the product of operant conditioning). Another concern that has been raised about Koko's ability to express coherent thoughts through signs is that interpretation of the gorilla's conversation was left to the handler, who may have seen improbable concatenations of signs as meaningful. For example, when Koko signed "sad" there was no way to tell whether she meant it with the connotation of "How sad." Following Patterson's initial publications in 1978, a series of critical evaluations of her reports of signing behavior in great apes argued that video evidence suggested that Koko was simply being prompted by her trainers' unconscious cues to display specific signs, in what is commonly called the Clever Hans effect.
A bonobo named Kanzi, who had learned to communicate using a keyboard with lexigrams, picked up some sign language from watching videos of Koko; Kanzi's researcher, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, did not realize he had done so until Kanzi began signing to anthropologist Dawn Prince-Hughes, who had previously worked closely with gorillas.
Intelligence
Between 1972 and 1977, Koko was administered several infant IQ tests, including the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale and form B of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. She achieved scores in the 70-90 range, which is comparable to a human infant that is slow but not intellectually impaired. According to Francine Patterson, however, it is specious to compare her IQ directly with that of a human infant because gorillas develop locomotor abilities earlier than humans and many IQ tests for infants require mostly motor responses. Gorillas and humans also mature at different rates, so using a gorilla's chronological age to compute their IQ results in a score that is not very useful for comparative purposes.
Pets
Researchers at The Gorilla Foundation said that Koko asked for a cat for Christmas in 1983. Ron Cohn, a biologist with the foundation, explained to the Los Angeles Times that when she was given a lifelike stuffed animal, she was less than satisfied. She did not play with it and continued to sign "sad". So on her birthday in July 1984, she was able to choose a kitten from a litter of abandoned kittens. Koko selected a gray male Manx and named him "All Ball". Penny Patterson, who had custody of Koko and who had organized The Gorilla Foundation, wrote that Koko cared for the kitten as if it were a baby gorilla. Researchers said that she tried to nurse All Ball and was very gentle and loving. They believed that Koko's nurturing of the kitten and the skills she gained through playing with dolls would be helpful in Koko's learning how to nurture an offspring.
In December 1984, All Ball escaped from Koko's cage and was hit and killed by a car. Later, Patterson said that when she signed to Koko that All Ball had been killed, Koko signed "Bad, sad, bad" and "Frown, cry, frown, sad". Patterson also reported later hearing Koko making a sound similar to human weeping.
In 1985, Koko was allowed to pick out two new kittens from a litter to be her companions. The animals she chose, she named "Lipstick" and "Smoky", were also Manxes. Koko picked the name after seeing the tiny orange Manx for the first time. When her trainer asked the meaning of the name, Koko answered, Lips lipstick.
To celebrate her birthday in July 2015, Koko was presented another litter of kittens. Picking two, she named them Miss Black and Miss Grey.
Media
Koko and Patterson's work with her have been the subject of several books and documentaries.
- 1978 Koko: A Talking Gorilla, a documentary film by Barbet Schroeder
- 1978 Cover of National Geographic magazine that Koko shot, as well as feature article
- 1980 Congo, a novel by Michael Crichton inspired by Koko's story
- 1981 The Education of Koko, a book by Patterson and naturalist Eugene Linden (ISBN 0030461014)
- 1985 Koko's Kitten, a picture book by Patterson and photographer Ronald Cohn (ISBN 0590444255)
- 1986 Silent Partners: The Legacy of the Ape Language Experiments, a book by Eugene Linden (ISBN 0345342348)
- 1987 Koko's Story, a children's book by Patterson for Scholastic Corporation (ISBN 0590413643)
- 1990 Koko's Kitten, a 15-minute re-enactment of the story of the gorilla's adoption of a kitten
- 1999 A Conversation with Koko, a PBS documentary for Nature, narrated by Martin Sheen
- 1999 The Parrot's Lament, by Eugene Linden (ISBN 0525944761)
- 2000 Koko-Love!, a picture book by Patterson and photographer Ronald Cohn (ISBN 0525463194)
- 2001 Koko and Robin Williams, a short featurette on Robin Williams meeting Koko
- 2008 Little Beauty, a picture book by Anthony Browne inspired by Koko's adoption of a pet kitten (ISBN 0763649678)
- 2016 Koko: The Gorilla Who Talks To People, a BBC documentary also shown on PBS
See also
- Primate cognition
- List of individual apes
References
Further reading
- Patterson, F. G. P.; M. L. Matevia (2001). "Twenty-seven Years of Project Koko and Michael". In Biruté M.F. Galdikas; Nancy Erickson Briggs; Lori K. Sheeran; Gary L. Shapiro; Jane Goodall. All Apes Great and Small: African Apes. Springer. pp. 165-176. ISBN 0-306-46757-7.
- Patterson, Dr. Francine (1987). Koko's Kitten. Scholastic, Inc. ISBN 0-590-44425-5
- Patterson, Francine and Wendy Gordon (1993) "The case for the personhood of gorillas" In: P Cavalieri and P Singer (Eds) The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity, St. Martin's Press, pp. 58-77. ISBN 9780312118181.
- Vessels, Jane (January 1985). "Koko's Kitten". National Geographic. Vol. 167 no. 1. pp. 110-113. ISSN 0027-9358. OCLC 643483454.
- Weiner, Jody (2005) "Hot Koko". California Lawyer. p. 80.
- Weiner, Jody. "Hot Koko & the Fetching Cat". Kinship with Animals. Updated Edition Ed. Kate Solisti and Michael Tobias. San Francisco/Tulsa: Council Oak, 2006. 182-88. ISBN 978-1571781895
External links
- Official website
- Koko on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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