Koko Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
This article is about the gorilla. Koko is also the name of a cartoon character in Fleischer Studios' Talkartoon; the title of a novel by Peter Straub; Koko is a posthumous name for an Emperor of Japan; and there are several African Khoisan languages known as the Koko language.
Koko (born July 4, 1971) is the name of a captive, acculturated gorilla trained by Francine Patterson and other scientists at Stanford University to communicate certain signs based on American Sign Language. Some scientists claim that Koko's actions indicate a capability to learn language. Other scientists claim that her actions are simply the result of operant conditioning, in that she does not understand the meaning behind what she is doing but learns to complete the signs simply because the researchers reward her for doing so. Such debate requires careful consideration of what it means to "learn" or "use" a language; see Animal language for further discussion.
Born in San Francisco, California, Koko's training began at the age of one. Patterson eventually assessed Koko's vocabulary at over 1000 signs. Countless documentaries have been made on Koko, including 1977's Koko - A Talking Gorilla. On April 27th, 1998, Koko held a "chat" live on AOL. She has lived most of her life in Woodside, California.
In August of 2004, Koko was in the news again due to a toothache. She communicated that she was in pain, and according to her handlers was able to indicate her pain level on a scale of 1 to 10. [1]
Other well known signing apes include chimpanzees Nim Chimpsky and Washoe.
See also: Kanzi, Panzee and Panbanisha.