| Koko | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 4, 1971 San Francisco Zoo, USA |
| Years active | 1979 - present |
| Known for | Use of sign language |
| Relatives | Dr. Patterson |
Koko (born July 4, 1971) is a female western lowland gorilla who, according to Francine "Penny" Patterson, is able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language,[1] and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.[2]
As with other ape language experiments, the degree to which Koko masters these signs has been controversial, as has been the degree to which such mastery demonstrates language abilities.
Koko was born at San Francisco Zoo and has lived most of her life in Woodside, California, although a move to a sanctuary on Maui, Hawaii, has been planned since the 1990s.[3] Koko is short for the name Hanabiko (花火子 lit. "fireworks child") in Japanese, a reference to her date of birth, the Fourth of July.
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Francine Patterson (her longterm trainer) believes that Koko's use of signs and her actions, which are consistent with her use of signs, indicate she has mastered the use of sign language.[1] Other researchers argue that she does not understand the meaning behind what she is doing and learns to complete the signs simply because the researchers reward her for doing so (indicating that her actions are the product of operant conditioning).[4][5] However, the latter position is not consistent with the claims that Koko uses the language freely and in novel ways, even when there is no foreseeable gratification.[6] Another concern that has been raised about Koko's ability to express coherent thoughts through the use of signs is that interpretation of the gorilla's conversation is left to the handler, who may see improbable concatenations of signs as meaningful.
Patterson says that she has documented Koko inventing new signs to communicate novel thoughts. For example, she says that nobody taught Koko the word for "ring", but to refer to it, Koko combined the words "finger" and "bracelet", hence "finger-bracelet".[7]
On April 12, 1998, an event promoted as an online chat with Koko took place on America Online. The transcript of this event, available on many locations on the Internet,[8] contains at least one instance of Koko making a statement resembling a sentence: "Lips fake candy give me"; uttered while Koko was trying to get Patterson to give her a treat. The last three words would constitute the use of an imperative verb accompanied by both a direct and an indirect object. It should be noted, however, that Koko does try a few other, seemingly random, signs translated as "words" before and after this "utterance", seemingly in order to achieve the same goal - obtaining a treat from Patterson. It has also been noted that Koko does not clearly seem to understand any language being directed to her in the transcript. Nevertheless, "candy give me" may be evidence that Koko can form a sentence.
Criticism from some parts of the scientific community centers on the fact that while publications often appear in the popular press about Koko, scientific publications are fewer in number.[9][10] Such debate requires careful consideration of what it means to "learn" or "use" a language (see animal language for further discussion).
Koko's training began at the age of one. Patterson has assessed Koko's vocabulary at over 1,000 signs, which would place her among the most proficient non-human users of language.[11] The bonobo, Kanzi, who learned to speak 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 could sign until Kanzi began signing to anthropologist Dawn Prince-Hughes, who had previously worked closely with gorillas.[12]
Most of the claims about Koko's language use center around her use, not of sentences, but of adjectives, nouns, and noun phrases. For example, Penny will give Koko a treat if she points to an apple and gives the sign for "apple" or "red."
Patterson claims that Michael, a gorilla who lived with Koko for several years, also developed a broad vocabulary of signs, over 600, but did not become as proficient as Koko before his death in 2000. Michael's caregivers believe that he witnessed and remembered his mother's death at the hands of poachers, but was unable to express the event clearly. In the PBS Nature special Koko: Conversation with a Gorilla, a group of Michael's signs is interpreted to be an attempt to convey a description of his mother being shot as he watched. While it was intended that Koko and Michael might produce a baby gorilla and teach it to sign, the two saw each other as siblings and did not mate.
Another gorilla, named Ndume, was selected by Koko from a group of videotapes shown to her by Patterson, who played several tapes showing male western gorillas, in what may be described as an attempt at "video-dating." Despite these efforts, Koko and Ndume have also not mated. The Foundation is currently working to solve this, while Koko's biological clock still permits (possibly into her early forties).
Although not unique, Koko is one of the few non-humans known to keep pets. She has cared for several cats over the years and Koko's relationship with All Ball was featured in the 1987 book Koko's Kitten (Scholastic Press, ISBN 0-590-44425-5), which was written by Patterson. In the book, Patterson reported that in the summer of 1984 Koko asked her for a cat. Koko selected a gray male Manx from a litter of abandoned kittens and named him "All Ball". This breed is unusual in that it has no tail. Patterson wondered whether that influenced Koko's choice. Patterson wrote that Koko cared for the kitten as if it were a baby gorilla.
In December of that same year, All Ball escaped from Koko's cage and was hit and killed by a car. Later, Patterson claimed that when she signed to Koko that All Ball had gone, Koko signed “Bad, sad, bad” and “Frown, cry, frown, sad”. Patterson also reported later hearing Koko making a sound akin to human weeping. Patterson uses this to argue that non-human species can have human-like emotions.
In 1985, Koko was allowed to pick out two new kittens from a litter to be her companions. The animals she chose, later named "Lipstick" and "Smokey", were also Manxes like All Ball.
Though he was not a pet of Koko's in the same way her cats were, the Gorilla Foundation also briefly played home to a male green-winged macaw of mysterious origin who had been found inhabiting the grounds and feeding on the loquat trees. Initially frightened of the parrot, Koko named him "Devil Tooth", "devil" presumably coming from his being mostly red, and "tooth" for his fierce-looking white beak; the human staff adjusted the name to "Devil Beak", and ultimately to "DB". (Personal communication)
Another gorilla known to have cared for pets was Toto, of Cuba.
Three former female employees have claimed that they were pressured into showing their breasts to Koko. They alleged that Patterson encouraged the behavior, often interpreted Koko's signs as requests for nipple display, and let them know that their job would be in danger if they "did not indulge Koko's nipple fetish."[13] All claims of harassment have been permanently dropped as of November 21, 2005, after the foundation and the parties involved reached a settlement.[14] Patterson claims that Koko uses the word "nipple" to refer to humans because it sounds like "people".[15] Jody Weiner, Koko's lawyer, writes about Koko and sexual harassment in the book Kinship With Animals.[16]
Koko was the subject of the 1978 documentary Koko: A Talking Gorilla, directed by Barbet Schroeder.
Koko was mentioned in an episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza was given the nickname Koko, after the gorilla.
On The Ricky Gervais Show, Karl Pilkington has occasionally re-told (if somewhat inaccurately) stories about Koko on the popular recurring feature Monkey News.[17] For example, on a 2003 episode, Karl talks of a "Monkey on a chat room", and in a later episode Karl talks of "a Monkey Sanctuary where women workers were encouraged to bare their breasts to the gorillas."
Koko was referenced in The Big Bang Theory, in the episode "The Gorilla Experiment". In the episode, Sheldon attempts to teach physics to Penny, who, when she is trying to convince him to teach her, rationalizes the task by comparing it to being able to teach Koko sign language.
Koko was additionally seen in a popular YouTube video with Robin Williams, an experience the comedian would later reference in an HBO stand-up performance.