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Presented at the American Society of Primatologists (ASP) Annual Conference
Redwood City, CA – Nov. 2, 2009 — The extraordinary legacy of the multilingual silverback gorilla, Michael, drew keen attention from numerous participants at this year’s annual conference of the American Society of Primatologists (ASP.) The Gorilla Foundation’s Dr. Penny Patterson and colleagues spearheaded a panel and roundtable discussion that brought together international researchers involved in leading-edge studies of the brain and behavior of humans, great apes and other mammals.
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The late silverback, Michael, relaxing
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The implications of the studies discussed at the “Learning From Michael” symposium in September 2009 could have far-reaching positive implications for the care and enrichment of captive gorillas and advance worldwide gorilla conservation efforts. Dialogues begun at the ASP conference will inform a series of workshops and public lectures that the Gorilla Foundation is planning to host in 2010.
Michael, a Western Lowland gorilla, grew up alongside Koko, his famous surrogate sister. As a participant in the longest-running ongoing interspecies communication and education project, he spent his days signing, painting, listening to and making music and creating vivid works of representational and abstract art. When he unexpectedly passed away at the age of 27 in April 2000, Michael had a vocabulary of more than 500 American Sign Language (ASL) signs and understood spoken English. A capable storyteller, he had been able to movingly describe in sign the brutal murder of his family which took place years earlier at the hands of poachers.
Neurobiologists studying Michael after his death have discovered, among other things, that Michael had a remarkable array of large spindle-shaped neurons known as Von Economo Neurons or VENs in brain regions involved in higher order integration of cognitive and emotional processes. Among primates, these large neurons have only been found in great apes and humans, though they have also recently been noted in whales and elephants. Michael’s brain contained a greater number of VENs than any other nonhuman primate studied to date, a number close to that appearing in some humans.
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Dr. Penny Patterson presenting
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The Gorilla Foundation’s Penny Patterson, University of St. Andrews researcher and former Gorilla Foundation volunteer Dr. Joanne Tanner and Biosynergy Institute founder and Gorilla Foundation conservation director Dr. Anthony L. Rose held participants spellbound with a joint presentation about Michael’s life and remarkable abilities entitled “Remembering Michael: A Gifted Gorilla.” Their research suggests that Michael developed extraordinary cognitive, social and emotional abilities due to at least three key factors: his many synergistic social relationships with humans, his exposure to complex multilingual communication, and the artistic and musical enrichment he was provided at the Gorilla Foundation.
Other distinguished scientists on the panel included Dr. Joseph Erwin (Foundation for Comparative & Conservation Biology), Dr. Patrick Hof (Mt. Sinai School of Medicine), Dr. John Allman, Dr. Soyoung Park, & Dr. Atiya Hakeem (California Institute of Technology), William Hopkins (Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University) and Chet Sherwood (George Washington University.)
To request more information about research on Michael, or to speak with a spokesperson from the Gorilla Foundation please contact: joanna@kulesafaul.com. Photos and more background information on Michael may be found at koko.org/michael.
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| What Made Michael Gifted? |
1) Unique Life: Different from other Apes
2) Highly Enriched Sanctuary Environment
3) Synergistic Social Relationships
4) Complex Multilingual Communication
5) Appreciated and Created Art and Music |
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Presenters at the Remembering Michael Session (left to right):
Drs: Penny Patterson, Joanne Tanner, Patrick Hof, Joseph Erwin, Anthony Rose, Jaak Panksepp,
John Allman, Atiya Hakeem, and Soyoung Park |
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