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In
this series, we share our gorilla research and care activities
with you through the following features:
1)
Caregiver Corner (what
it's like to interact and communicate with gorillas Koko, Ndume
and Michael)
2) Research Revelations
(what we're learning through interspecies communication and
what it means for humanity)
prepared
by our staff under the supervision of Dr. Penny Patterson, Director
of Research. (Journal PhotoBlog
Archive) |
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| Behind the Scenes of Silverback Care by Duke Cutter |
September 07, 2006 |
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Dr.
Francine "Penny" Patterson has a Ph.D. in Developmental
Psychology from Stanford. She is President and Research
Director of The Gorilla Foundation, and a Member
of the Board of ApeNet - a consortium of foundations
supporting the welfare of great apes through interspecies
communication. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of
"Gorilla, the journal of The Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org."
"Penny's Journal" provides insight into her facinating
relationship with Koko and a way to share with us
her experiences as Koko lives, learns and communicates
"The
differences between humans and gorillas are greatly
overshadowed by what we have in common — and by
communicating with them, we can learn as much about
our own true nature as theirs." Penny Patterson |
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Ndume has a great sense of humor
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Caregiver Corner:
I approached
Ndume’s indoor enclosure I could feel a percussive thump.
Another thump, and then another, shattered the stillness of
a sunny Woodside afternoon. At first I braced myself for an
unhappy silverback acting out. Ndume has good and bad days
just like us, except he sometimes has a harder time conveying
to us exactly what is bothering him. As I walked up the stairs
extending my hand to his doorway I realized that these thumps
were occurring at regular 30-second intervals. I took a deep
breath and entered.
What I saw next rooted me to the spot. Ndume seemed to glide
at me at full speed. Then his accelerated 400 lbs came crashing
into the reinforced steel mesh that separated us, THUMP!
I stood perfectly still waiting for what was next. Ndume
stood up to his full height of approximately 6 feet, and then
he did the unexpected; he fell down. Or I should say he flopped
down on his back and started rolling in the inch of water
that flooded the floor. Two thoughts raced through my mind
as Ndume rolled about on the floor: a. what is with all this
water? and b. what is with this gorilla? Ndume lapsed into
a furious fit of purring, chuckling to himself, splashing
like a child in a kiddy pool. He sprang to his feet, moved
to the back corner and launched himself at the wall once again.
With his arms outspread acting like skis, his mouth wide open
like a windsock, Ndume braced for impact, THUMP!
As I stood riveted watching perhaps the most bizarre thing
I would ever see, the gorilla ice-capades, Ndume continued
rolling and purring in the water. Crushed and torn water bottles
lay strewn about Ndume’s room and that’s when
it all became crystal clear. Ndume had created the world’s
first gorilla slip-and-slide. With nothing else to do besides
laugh out loud, I poured out a bottle on the floor and joined
in the fun myself.
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Duke
Cutter received a B.A. in ancient Greek philosophy
from St. Mary’s College and attended a semester
abroad at the University of Cape Town South Africa, where
he studied African philosophy, early culture, and Zoology.
It was here that he got his first up close and personal
glimpses of African primates. During his last year of
college, Duke also earned his Emergency Medical Technician’s
(EMT) license. Later he attended the Dominican School
of Philosophy in Berkeley, where he earned an M.A. He
is primarily interested in the epistemic abilities, cognitive
functions, and behavioral modalities of life forms. Duke
feels that the unique nature of the Gorilla Foundation’s
mission of interspecies communication, affords him a once
in a lifetime opportunity to study the epistemic interpretations
of another species. |
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Please
email us at research_feedback@koko.org
if you have any questions, or would like to share an observation
or insight about the preceding interspecies conversations.
Your feedback can inform our research and is a vital part
of our mission.
Thank you,
Dr. Francine Penny Patterson
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