Gorillas Koko, Michael and Ndume used to love to celebrate Halloween (and many other holidays) with us every year.
In the above video, from our interspecies communication digital archive (KokoArc) we share a few scenes from their Halloween celebrations. Note that Koko, Michael and Ndume each made different choices about how much time they spent outside, what foods they ate, how they ate them, and how much interaction they had with their caregivers.
You can see from the video that the gorillas really enjoyed eating pumpkins during this holiday season, and they also liked to participate in the festivities — for example exploring costumes and decorated pumpkins.
Gorillas deserve our best care — which includes giving them opportunities to spend lots of time outside, and express both their autonomy and their fun-loving nature!
Stay tuned for more KokoArc video updates, and help us apply what we learn from them to improve the care of gorillas in captivity, and ensure their safety in the wild.
Thank you so much, and Happy Halloween!
Dr. Penny Patterson, Ph.D.
President & Director of Research
The Gorilla Foundation / Koko.org
Conservation through Communication
The Gorilla Foundation PO Box 620530, Woodside, CA 94062
1-800-ME-GO-APE [email protected]
The Gorilla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Federal Tax ID: 942.38.6151
