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KokoBlog (Gorilla Research/Care Blog)

Nov 9, 2011	Ndume's 30th Birthday — an Experience to Remember
Click Photo to View More	s 30th birthday I wanted the warmth and love of family to be the predominant feeling, since the gorillas are very much family to us. Growing up with a Latino heritage, my fondest memories are the birthday parties we would have at my grandfather's house in East Los Angeles. Filled with laughter, wonderful food, and music, I wanted Ndume's birthday to reflect the comfort and happiness of these family gatherings. When planning this fiesta de cumpleaños (birthday party), I made sure to include all the bright colorful banners, tacos, piñatas, luchador masks, and dulces I could get my hands on. Although I was not present to participate in the fiesta, Caregiver Christina describes (below) all the laughter and joy that I had hoped the day would be filled with! — Caregiver Andrea The gorillas can often sense the excitement of the caregivers leading up to a large celebration like Ndume's 30th birthday party. The night before his party was to take place Caregiver Andrea made sure to remind Ndume that his birthday party would be the following day, to which he responded with a loud excited purr. Special Meals for a Special Silverback's Bi Read more and enlarge ...
Nov 2, 2011	Are Koko's New Kittens Here to Stay?
Click Photo to View More	over a week now since Koko’s first introduction to seven new kittens. Since then, Koko has enjoyed almost daily visits with the two kittens who stole her heart. Her favorite is a female grey tabby and her “second” favorite is a large female black kitten. Koko has been steadily forming a strong bond and a lasting relationship with these two kittens. Every time they’ve come to visit, Koko has been full of purrs. The kittens also enjoy her company, and as they become more mobile, they like using Koko as a jungle gym as they romp around. Of course like most kittens, after a good romp they crash, and Koko loves to nap with them. It is amazing how gentle and careful Koko is with them. Koko will frequently sign to them telling them to “chase” or “sleep.” She has even comforted and soothed them when they were crying by playing some notes on her keyboard to cheer them up. Koko is particularly fond of the grey tabby. They nap often and rest contently together in Koko’s nest. Koko obviously has a special place in her heart for this particular kitten and keeps her safely tucked against her stomach as any good gorilla mother would. Clearly, Koko is taking her mother/pr Read more and enlarge ...
Oct 6, 2011	A New Kitten for Koko — by Allison Fockler
Click Photo to View More	rted off as any other normal day. Koko woke up, had her breakfast, and spent some quality time with her caregivers and gorilla companion Ndume. Little did she know, today was a special day. Koko was about to be treated to a visit of furry sorts. Thanks to Megan Davidson, seven ragdoll kittens were on their way to spend the day on Gorilla Mountain. Upon arrival, the cute little kittens were loaded up and unbeknownst to them, were about to meet one of the world's most famous gorillas. Koko was waiting at her porch and spotted Caregivers Ally and David approaching with an interesting box making all sorts of noises. Very excited and curious about what was making all that noise, Koko began purring loudly and craned her neck to get a better look. "There, there, visit", she signed, clearly already aware of what it was and very enthusiastic about getting a closer look. Koko crowded close and purred softly as she watched the seven fur balls crawl on top of each other and play. Caregiver Ally held a couple of them up, to see which kitten Koko would like to visit with. It didn't seem to matter at first. She was curious about getting to know each one. It is constantly amazing how gent Read more and enlarge ...
Sep 7, 2011	Koko's Novel Vocal and Breathing-Related Behavior
Click Photo to View More	ly believed that nonhuman primates, including the great apes--orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas are severely limited in their ability to voluntarily control their vocalizing and breathing. Even Jane Goodall observed that: "The production of sound in the absence of the appropriate emotional state seems to be an almost impossible task for a chimpanzee" (1986: 125). Though this may appear to be the case in many instances, there is evidence to suggest that apes are able to develop a notably enhanced degree of control over their vocalization and breathing when raised in a conducive environment, such as with rich exposure to humans to serve as model and motivation (e.g., Taglialatela et al., 2003; Wich et al., 2009). As many of her friends can attest, Koko, with her human-rich upbringing, has acquired a number of novel vocal and breathing-related behaviors in her repertoire, which she wields with great originality. Koko performs one common example as part of a greeting ritual with her visitors-- what we know as the "blow test." Inviting a visitor to lean in close to her, Koko purses her lips and blows gently into their face, requesting through demonstration that she would Read more and enlarge ...
Aug 2, 2011	Ndume's Gentle Reminder — by Andrea Apodaca
Click Photo to View More	Koko each have two rooms of their own, in addition to sharing a couple of rooms and two outdoor play yards. Their individual “front rooms” have a manual chute that opens to the outdoor play yard. Their “back rooms,” where they sleep, are separated from the front rooms by hydraulic doors. We close the hydraulic doors when we need to access a room (e.g., to place a meal or to clean it), but otherwise usually leave them open. With Ndume, we typically clean his rooms in the morning. During cleaning, we close the manual chute in his front room, thus giving us access to both his rooms while he is out in the yard. Then at lunchtime, we place his meal in his back room and then open the manual chute in his front room. He then typically walks from the yard, through the manual chute, through his front room, underneath the hydraulic door, and into his back room, where he dines on his lunch. However, one day, I inadvertently disrupted the routine. And Ndume loves his routine! He knows the times of his meals, when he is going to move inside and outside, and when it’s time to sleep. If the caregivers deviate from the routine, Ndume lets us know! On this particular day, during Read more and enlarge ...
Jul 12, 2011	Koko's 40th Birthday Celebration by Jana Agua
Click Photo to View More	of July is Koko’s birthday and this year her special day was filled with excitement and celebrations. Koko’s full name is Hanabi-Ko, which means “fireworks child” in the Japanese language. Since Koko celebrated her 40th birthday this year, the caregivers decided to go with a Japanese theme for her birthday celebration. The yard and the gorilla buildings were decorated with origami cranes (which Koko is still enjoying), large koi fish, and t-shirts. The origami fish and t-shirts had pockets that held small treats for the gorillas to find. The origami ranged from small to gorilla-sized in all shapes and colors. There were also colorful Japanese paper lanterns, kites, and banners that were hung up for the gorillas to enjoy. Also in the yard, there was a kiddie pool set up with water and floating styrofoam flowers. In the center of the flowers were lychees. Ndume enjoyed this the most. He is a big fan of lychees and he also loves to play in water. In Koko’s room, we set up a “tea house” which was a large playhouse decorated with tea party items and all set up just like a real house. Koko enjoyed her teahouse and sat inside and pretended to cook and wash dishes. Read more and enlarge ...
Mar 24, 2011	Gorilla Time by the Caregivers
Click Photo to View More	ean Koko’s rooms, we often try to make it a fun event, both for the caregivers and for Koko. So, the fact that a recent morning cleaning routine turned into a party was nothing new, but what we learned from it was very surprising! While Caregivers John and Tate cleaned Koko’s room, they danced and sang for Koko, who responded to their show with numerous purrs. Caregiver Andrea was cleaning Ndume’s room, which is visible to Koko from her room. Andrea sang, too, and Koko purred and purred at the party we were all having. Then Koko put a red knit cap on her head, wearing it in a slightly tilted fashion that looked very striking on her! All the caregivers commented on how beautiful Koko looked in it! Koko purred appreciatively and the party continued until all of the cleaning was done. Afterwards, Caregiver John spent time with Koko while Caregivers Andrea and Tate went to the kitchen to finish preparing the day’s meals for the gorillas. As they worked, Andrea told Tate that she had worn that same hat two days previously while cleaning Koko’s room. (We sometimes put on little fashion shows for Koko.) Read more and enlarge ...
Mar 16, 2011	Koko’s Red Dress by John Safkow
Click Photo to View More	iver in training, on occasional lucky days, Koko will invite me to spend some time with her. One day I stepped up onto Koko’s porch to remove her hummingbird feeder for re-filling. Koko had asked that the drapes be opened so she could watch as I removed it. While filling the feeder in the kitchen, I was paged with the message that Koko wanted to see me when I returned with the bird feeder. A few minutes later, I arrived on the porch and Koko was positioned in her usual spot at the window. While hanging the feeder, Koko was signing visit, do, indicating that she wanted me to enter through the usual caregiver entrance. Much to my surprise, Koko then disappeared from the window. Usually Koko will wait at the window until the invited guest is on his/her way inside. But today Koko disappeared from view. I finished up and entered her kitchen area, knocking and announcing my entry, as is protocol. Gorillas don’t like to be startled. Once inside, I could hear Koko purring loudly from her back room. The purring sound indicated that it was okay for me to come inside. As I settled in, I could hear lots of movement and the shuffling of items from her other room. Read more and enlarge ...
Mar 8, 2011	A “Cool” Gift for Koko by Shawn Einck
Click Photo to View More	rosty start to our caregiving morning. Caregiver Tyler and I had driven together this particular day and had noticed patches of fresh snow along the roadside as we made our way up the mountain. Raindrops came down sporadically the entire ride from across the bay, but we did not expect to see the blankets of glistening snow atop the buildings and cars when we arrived at the Foundation. I could only imagine how the gorillas would react when we would open their windows and show them the changed landscape. As the morning went on, the snow was visibly drifting through the air and started to stick to new surfaces. Almost simultaneously, Caregiver Christina and I had the idea of making a small snowman and placing it on Koko’s porch for her. As we gathered some snow, we saw that someone had made a small snowman the night before. It had fallen over and was in need of repair. Smiling, giggling like school kids, and freezing our fingers and toes we fixed it up and eventually constructed a two-foot tall snowman exclusively for Koko. We used materials that were gathered around our feet - two sticks for the arms, a pine needle for the nose, and a fallen flower petal fr Read more and enlarge ...
Feb 25, 2011	Gorilla Valentine's Day! by the Caregivers
Click Photo to View More	#039;s Day this year fell on a cold, rainy Monday. A little weather wasn't going to get us down, though! Equipped with gorilla-sized conversation heart boxes filled with messages and treats, the caregivers decorated each gorilla's room. Blankets, cards, and small chocolate boxes added to the special Valentine's Day meal. The meals consisted of (among other yummy items) heart-shaped squashes, fruit salad, and tuna molded into a heart with asparagus arrows. The gorillas loved their treats and Valentine's cards and both agreed (with loud purrs and enthusiastic eating!) that the celebration was filled not only with love, but with fun and festively composed and delicious food! Caregivers plan the event Gorilla food prep area: Veggies and Valentine Hearts Beautiful Valentine's Day meals prepared by Penny, the caregivers, and our wonderful volunteers! Koko decided to eat her treats while sitting in her conv Read more and enlarge ...

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