Dear Friend,
Before Koko had learned many signs, she already knew how to make her wishes understood.
If she wanted me to pick her up, she would raise both arms toward me and wait. If I was holding something she wanted, she might reach toward it. I didnโt teach her either of these gestures.
Around the same time, I was teaching Koko her first signs, including Food/Eat. During feeding, I would show her the sign, help form her hand into the right shape and reinforce it one bite at a time.
We now know that gorillas use well over 100 distinct gestures intentionally and flexibly with one another. Kokoโs spontaneous gestures reflected this natural capacity for communication, while the signs I taught her gave us an additional shared vocabulary.
In this early footage, you can see Koko using spontaneous gestures alongside the signs she was just beginning to learn.
With Koko love,
Penny Patterson
President, CEO and Founder
The Gorilla Foundation / koko.org
Conservation through Communication
The Gorilla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Our Federal Tax ID is: 942-38-6151
