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Dear Friend,

One afternoon, we placed something new on the floor of Koko’s room — a roll-up piano keyboard. 

Koko reached for it almost immediately. She pressed one key, then another, gradually making her way along the keyboard. I knelt down across from her and joined in.

What I love about this footage is how naturally Koko begins investigating something unfamiliar. Each press of a key produces an immediate result, giving her another opportunity to explore the connection between her actions and the sounds that follow.

This kind of hands-on exploration is an important way primates learn about the world around them. Koko did not need to be shown what to do first. She reached out, experimented, and kept going.

And at the end, she even gives herself a hand! Let’s give her one too, and thank her for being such a good ambassador for her species!

With Koko love,

Penny Patterson
President, CEO and Founder
The Gorilla Foundation / koko.org

Conservation through Communication

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