Someone emailed us that question in response to the Jan. 12 KokoPix. It”s hard to believe sometimes that gorillas can act (and think and feel) so much like us – without having an actor inside. But we have “actors” inside us too, and sometimes the way we act probably prompts gorillas like Koko to ask “is that a real human?”.
By the way, Koko has been spending more time inside this past week, as the temperatures in northern California have been getting down below freezing at night – not the ideal temperature for lowland gorillas. Thank goodness (and human scientists and engineers) for climate control technology.