Have you heard of Koko, the gorilla? I was browsing some videos in YouTube and found some videos of Koko. She is a genius gorilla, so cute and a fast learner. I also admire the people who taught her everything she know with dedication, passion, patient and love. I do not believe in
evolution, but I do believe in God who
created everything beautiful. Koko is one of His masterpiece and human has the ability to teach animals and to care for them.
"A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel."
Proverbs 12:10
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"Koko (born July 4, 1971) is a female gorilla who, according to Francine "Penny" Patterson, is able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language,and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.
As with other ape language experiments, the degree to which Koko masters these signs has been controversial, as has been the degree to which such mastery demonstrates language abilities.
Koko was born at San Francisco Zoo and has lived most of her life in Woodside, California, although a move to a sanctuary on Maui, Hawaii, has been planned since the 1990s. Koko is short for the name Hanabiko (花火子 lit. "fireworks child"?)in Japanese, a reference to her date of birth, the Fourth of July.
Although not unique, Koko is one of the few non-humans known to keep pets. She has cared for several cats over the years and Koko's relationship with All Ball was featured in the 1987 book Koko's Kitten (Scholastic Press, ISBN 0-590-44425-5), which was written by Patterson. In the book, Patterson reported that in the summer of 1984 Koko asked her for a cat. Koko selected a gray male Manx from a litter of abandoned kittens and named him "All Ball". This breed is unusual in that it has no tail. Patterson wondered whether that influenced Koko's choice. Patterson wrote that Koko cared for the kitten as if it were a baby gorilla.
In December of that same year, All Ball escaped from Koko's cage and was hit and killed by a car. Later, Patterson said that when she signed to Koko that All Ball had gone, Koko signed "Bad, sad, bad" and "Frown, cry, frown, sad". Patterson also reported later hearing Koko making a sound similar to human weeping. Drawing upon this incident, Patterson argues that non-human species can have human-like emotions.
In 1985, Koko was allowed to pick out two new kittens from a litter to be her companions. The animals she chose, later named "Lipstick" and "Smokey", were also Manxes like All Ball.
Though he was not a pet of Koko's in the same way her cats were, the Gorilla Foundation also briefly played home to a male green-winged macaw of mysterious origin who had been found inhabiting the grounds and feeding on the loquat trees. Initially frightened of the parrot, Koko named him "Devil Tooth", "devil" presumably coming from his being mostly red, and "tooth" for his fierce-looking white beak; the human staff adjusted the name to "Devil Beak", and ultimately to "DB". (Personal communication)"
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Have you seen the movie, "Rise of the planet of the Apes?", I thought only in a movie that an ape could learn the sign language and all, but Koko proved me wrong. I think Koko inspired that movie because its location is in San Francisco and Koko was born in San Francisco Zoo LOL.
Speaking of San Francisco Zoo, I visited the San Francisco's Zoo last Sunday and I was actually disappointed. The Zoo is big and clean, but there were not a lot of animals to see, most of the big cats were hiding and those animals looked lonely and sad.
Yours Truly in SF Zoo lol
Anyway, please Google about Koko and you will be amazed of this beautiful creature. These are some of her videos that I love but she has a lot more videos in YouTube, please check her out and help spreading the word of how to teach and love the animals. They deserved our help, care and love!
P.S 6:27, I do not believe in Evolution, just to be clear lol, I do believe in God's creation :)
♥♥Save the gorillas ♥♥
xoxo,
Lindsay
