Dear Friend,

We all know that Koko is extraordinary. After all, it's not every day you meet a gorilla who can speak in American Sign Language. But she isn't unique!

You see, all gorillas, not just Koko, have the natural capability to do what Koko does -- communicate with humans via a gestural language, and understand spoken and written words.

Gorillas are born with the natural ability to use gestures to communicate -- they have been observed using up to 100 natural gestures with each other. Koko knows over 1,000 words in sign language; Michael knew over 500 words, and Ndume exhibits dozens of sign language words and gestures.

We are embarking on a new initiative to expand their language capacity to other gorillas living in zoos and sanctuaries, by developing educational tools to train caregivers.

Your gift today of $25 or more today will help the Gorilla Foundation accelerate this vital effort to transmit Koko’s legacy to all gorillas!

This initiative will result in the development of educational tools, videos and computer apps to help other institutions give their great apes a vocabulary of care signs to enable them to better express their needs and wants.

Ultimately, we believe that this interspecies communication is how we can save gorillas in the wild from imminent extinction, and make the lives of those gorillas in zoos and sanctuaries more enriching, for both them and us.

With your generous gift today, you will be joining us in creating these tools, and transmitting Koko’s legacy to all gorillas!

It’s time for gorillas in zoos and sanctuaries across the world to show that “they are all Kokos.” Thank you for helping us leverage our work with Koko to benefit the hundreds of gorillas in captivity and the thousands of gorillas in Africa!

With sincere gratitude for your vital support!

Sincerely,

Penny Patterson, Ph.D. President and Director of Research