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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 1
ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
A personal account of the travails of the gorilla hunter from the perspective of a wildlife conservationist who believes that people and nature can be redeemed, if given opportunities to pursue their mutually synergistic ideals. This field research was financed by the author's family and friends in Los Angeles, and a gift from The Bellerive Foundation, Geneva Switzerland.
An earlier version of the article appeared in the Journal of the Southwestern Anthropological Association, Vol. 38, Issue 3, January 1998.
A Human Affair. I had no idea when I left Los Angeles that I would spend nearly two weeks traveling front one end of Cameroon to the other, riding in bush taxis and logging lorries, sleeping in flop houses and fancy hotels, living in hurting camps and timber towns, all in the company of a gorilla hunter. I went to Africa in May, 1997, to learn about the bushmeat trade first hand. A year earlier I spoke at a conference on the "bushmeat crisis" with officials from the Cameroon Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF). My role as an applied social psychologist and developer was to analyze the situation and to conceive new solutions (1). Subsequent meetings and talks with scores of experts had affirmed the assertions of local officials that conservation biology projects had failed to stop the poaching of wildlife for meat. To me it seemed obvious that to alter a convoluted matrix of human values and to control a multi-million dollar commercial enterprise was the job of social change agents and business people. From the elite gentry in national and provincial capitals paying top dollar for elephant steak to itinerant hunters snaring blue duiker and shooting apes for logging camp workers, the bushmeat business is a human affair.
The humans I knew least were the ones who went into the ram forest to hunt for a living. They were also the people who held the crucial decision in their hands--where to aim the gun and whether to pull the trigger. While at the MINEF Bushmeat Conference, I spent 4 hours talking with Joseph Melloli, a 33-year-old man who had moved from his native home in the Southwestern Province to become a commercial hunter in the eastern forests. Joseph specialized in hunting gorillas, and had been identified as a person who could be useful to the wildlife conservation effort. During our discussion, Joseph invited me to come to his camp, live with him and his family, and discover for myself whether his skills and attitudes were redeemable. I said I would return, and after 12 months I was able to fulfill the promise.
On Thursday May 8th I landed in Douala, Cameroon's largest city and a major seaport in western Africa. That evening my friend Karl Ammann flew in from Brazzasvillie, Congo. Karl is the Kenya-based wildlife advocate and photojournalist who had exposed the African bushmeat trade to The world ,(2). We discussed the turmoil Karl had seen in Kinshasa with political revolution at hand, and worried about the people and the forests of equatorial Africa. The next morning Karl and I took a bus to the national capital of Yaounde. En route we talked about our missions--Ammann would race across the country collecting photos and stories for a Stern magazine article on the bushmeat trade, while I trekked into the rain forest to live in a hunting camp and assess the potential for converting poachers to protectors. After leaving Ammann at the Hilton, I checked into my room at Hotel Deputee. Within an hour Joseph the hunter appeared. We agreed to buy provisions and leave for the Eastern Province right away. Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 2 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
Saturday morning we bid Karl adieu, hired a taxi and drove east from Yaounde five hours on bumpy red clay logging roads. We stopped in Abong Mbang, a crossroads town through which most of tile timber and bushmeat from the Eastern Province passes. After check-in at the Ngong Hotel, we walked to town center. I stopped at a roadside stand to sniff the monkey stew, which smelled like a. sour mutton my grandmother used to make. We settled for beer and eggs at a busy bistro where Samedi soir was in full swing.
We take Care of Such Men. A scruffy and quite schizophrenic young man danced to some inner cacophony at the entry to the store, while customers carefully picked their way around him. I asked Joseph if the man was safe here, with all this drinking going on. "Why should he be in danger?" replied Joseph. If anyone hurt him they would be put in jail. The worst crime is to do harm to someone like that. We take care of such men."
Joseph said that the same would hold for me: "We must look after all white men. They are guests. We are not supposed to let any harm come to you." He then asked how be would be treated in America. I told him he would be fine if he stayed with me, but alone like that man he could have a very rough time.
"One day [would like to come stay with you in America," mused Joseph.
The rest of the evening passed with little event till we returned to our six-dollar rooms in the town's most popular disco and brothel. Loud music and raucous party goers crashed through the halls till the wee hours. I was exhausted when we took off early Sunday in another bush taxi down another red clay highway lined with tall trees. In three more hours we reached Kagnol, the western style logging camp in the heart of the SEBC timber company's logging concession. After leaving a card for the MINEF officer, we continued a half hour on an abandoned logging road through increasingly dense forest to the hunting camp called Tokasa.
It was midday and the overhead sun intensified the colors of clay, vine, and leaf. We pulled our gear from time trunk, paid the driver and watched the faded beige Toyota turn and disappear. It was then I saw the butterflies--small streams and clouds of yellow. blue, red and green floating crystals that spun round us. On a hill above the grass-covered berm were four small huts woven of pores and thatch. Behind them huge towering trees, hanging vines, moss, a dark forest wall of wood and shadows tinted emerald and brushed with fluttering white wings, a red flower, streaks of gilded light. And all around--silence. Utter silence. I sighed. And then the forest sang again. A bird. Crickets. Bees and the rustle of wind high in the canopy. Joseph helped me put my gear in the hut. I sat on a bench in the small verandah and stared at the forest. An unexpected and welcome paradise.
I spent seven of the next ten days and nights at Tokasa camp. Windfalls had blocked the road a few kilometers beyond us with immovable logs. No other cars came. Further on were five small hunting camps; ours was closest to the main road. To get from our site to the traveler's inn in Kagnol was a 2-hour walk though forest. This mean that everyone passing by in either direction stopped at Tokasa to drop their packs rest and visit. Joseph's wife and child arrived, along with other men and families. The camp began to fill up. Hunters, trappers, bushmeat traders, gatherers of fruit, honey, medicinal plants--more than 40 people altogether came to stop in Tokasa camp while I was there. Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 3 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
Most were Bantu men Iron towns and villages in the Eastern Province who were moving back into the forest at the start of the rainy season. They came with rented guns, a handful of cartridges, and material for snares and traps--enough to get them sufficient meat to get at market for a living and small profit to save or to spend on their families back home. From sunup to sundown these hard-working men would trudge up to my hut to shake hands with the odd gray-haired American who had come to live in their midst.
My Friend is Here. Joseph's introduction set the stage-- "My friend Dr. Anthony is here to find out how we Iive and see if e can make a better life." Some were shy and said little. Most were glad to see me, and many were visibly elated to find that a white man would take time as they are, without judgment. Many were forthcoming.
Etienne had come to hunt for the first time a few weeks earlier. After his mother died, he and his brother could not make ends meet. He had joined agemates from his village in hopes of earning some money in the forest. His compatriots showed me their catch. One red duiker and two blue ones, two monkeys--all fresh shot that morning. They also had two porcupines and two duikers smoked the day before. Etienne did not have a gun, but his friends would teach him to use theirs. At the end of the season he hoped to have saved enough to return home and expand the family farm.
I returned from a walk in the forest late one afternoon to find a more experienced hunter seated by the fire in front of my hut. Marcel held a relic of a gun in one hand and pointed to the meat he had laid out to smoke on the rack above my fire. Two monkeys and a red duiker shot with the gun, to porcupines caught in snares. "A poor day's catch," he explained. Marcel had heard that an uncle had died in his village and be must return for the funeral. The sale of the meat in Kagnol would bring him enough cash to pay transit there and back on a lorry--about $10. I asked if he had ever hunted an ape. He said that 2 weeks earlier he shot a chimpanzee. It was too heavy for him to bring out, so he and some other hunters ate the feet, hands and innards; then sold the larger portions, back, legs and arm for $17. "Will you be a hunter all your life?" I asked. "No, of course not." Marcel hopes to save enough capital to open a shop in his village. But it will take another 2 years or more, with luck.
Joseph learned that while he was in Yaounde meeting me a gorilla was shot and butchered about 15 kilometers down the road beyond our camp. Its carcass had lain right here in front of my hut, before being carted out to the road and shipped to Bertoua, the provincial capital.
"My friend has shot many gorillas, if you want to meet him. But we will need a car," Joseph ordered.
A week later we got a ride with Karl Ammann and his cohorts from Stern Magazine. We drove the 50 kilometers on a relatively busy dirt road to an upscale encampment with houses made of mud and wood. In a new half-built five room house a handsome bright eyed young man named "Davide" greeted us. We examined three gorilla skulls collected months earlier. He pointed out the nine holes that represent all nine lead bails of the Chevrotine cartridge. "This was a perfect shot:"
Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 4 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
Davide explained that he had just sold three fresh gorilla carcasses--a silver back young male, and female--to a woman who is a regular customer. She comes each week to pick up meat for clients in Bertoua. Joseph told us Davide had been quite successful finding gorillas in the nearby forest: in three months he had provided twenty of them for the Bertoua meat market. I asked Davide if he likes shooting gorillas.
"Of course not. It is dangerous and very hard work. But it I find them, I must use the gun that my patron has given me for its purpose," he replied. Davide expects to save money and quit the hunting life one day;
"He is a good man. Very trustworthy and honest. I would like to take him with me to help protect the gorillas and chimpanzees in the forest." said Joseph.
Earlier I had asked Joseph when he last killed a gorilla. "I have not shot one gorilla in the year since I saw you," he replied. "I know that you and the others do not want me to hunt them anymore. I no longer have a gun, and have begun to grow the crops." But he explained that he has now reached the end of the rope.
"The month of May is time to finish my planting so the corn and casaba will be here in the fall. In July my family will gather fruit and honey to prepare and sell. But for June we do not have enough to live on. That's why I must begin to hunt again."
I asked him how much money he needs. He calculated and replied That $120 would get him through the next six weeks. After that the fruit should come in and hold him over till autumn harvest. I figure in six weeks Joseph could kill a dozen great apes, as many as his young fiend Davide.
"Don't hunt, Joseph. We will make a contract," I said. "If you will keep a journal in which you record one accomplishment you have made each day and send me copies every 2 or 3 months, then I will give you the money you need to stay away from the hunt and will help you start to protect the endangered animals.
Joseph was visibly pleased "I will get the paper and the pen and begin today," he declared.
Good as Gold. After making our agreement I felt a strong sense of relief. For days I had been struggling with a difficult conundrum. To help the apes required trusting the ape killers. As a professional from North America I needed reasonable proof that Joseph would not use this money to rent a gun, buy cartridges, and return to the hunt. As a person in the rain forest I had the man's word, as good as gold.
Joseph and I left Tokasa camp by different route and met up again in Yaounde near the end of my sojourn. He then accompanied me by bus back to Douala and down to the resort town of Limbe, During those three days out of the forest a different man began to emerge. A complex man, at once confident and cautions, open and honest, and quite insightful about his place and potential in this difficult world. At the Atlantic Hotel in Limbe I video-taped a long interview with Joseph the exgorilla hunter. Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 5 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
Joseph the boy had been slated to attend a technical school, but the funds were used instead to send his brother to college. After high school he found himself adrift, and took a variety of jobs, from house boy in Limbe to milliner and restaurant manager in Yaounde. He traveled north to work in Nigeria, then returned to Yaounde to study French, and at age 23 he moved to the Eastern Province where he could start afresh in Cameroon's frontier state. There he married a B'aka pygmy woman, adapting to yet another language and culture. As journalists and TV crews began reporting the exploitation of flora and fauna in east Cameroon, Joseph with his relevant skills and knowledge was discovered to be a valuable resource person. Now he was proving himself to have yet another set of talents, working as my private guide and comrade.
We talked for hours and days about life in Cameroon and life in the bush. In the end I was convinced that while Joseph had an exceptional mix of competencies, he was the tip of an iceberg. There were at least a dozen other bushmeat hunters back in the SEBC concession who had sufficient will and ability to serve the conservation effort. Still, I could not be sure that they would develop the attitudes towards wild animals that are needed to sustain an enduring commitment to protect them. It is one thing to care for an ape or an elephant because you are paid and you have the competence to do the job. It is quite another to care for them because they matter to you--to feel the deep connection that renders the gorilla or chimpanzee a kindred spirit whom you know, implicitly, deserves to live a secure and fulfilling life.
A Gorilla Loves, and Mourns. During our last evening together, I decided to test Joseph's metal. Before my trip, the Gorilla Foundation had supplied me with copies of a book about Koko: the first gorilla who had learned to communicate using sign language. Penny Patterson, Koko's life long friend and teacher, had wondered whether people who hunt and eat gorillas could be influenced by reading the story of Koko's Kitten. This tale has evoked tears in thousands of North Americans. Would a man who shot and butchered 100 wild gorillas be moved by it? In our interview a year earlier, Joseph had argued tbat God put gorillas here for us to use as we please. With incredulity he had said "They are not humans; how can they feel what we feel?" Now after nearly two weeks traveling together I had grown close to this man: I was afraid he might laugh at the book, declare it foolish romanticism--a response I had heard from a few scientists and lay people.
We were exhausted from travel and retired early. Joseph sat at the foot of his bed in our room at the Akwa Palace Hotel and held the thin paper- back book. His face brightened at the sight of the cover, with the photo of a large gorilla holding a small tabby kitten gently in her hands. Joseph began to read at once, before I could explain anything. He was so engrossed, I dared not inter- rupt. After a minute he looked up from the book to exclaim, "Is this really so.?" in a manner that represents deep excitement for him. I said '"yes." Similar exclamations came again, and again. As if he was compelled to speak his change of mind-- to declare the expansion of his world view. At the end he asked, "Can I take this to my friend, Davide? I want to show this to my friend who is hunting the gorillas. It will impress him very much." As we talked about the story it was clear that the language competence Koko displays was incredible to Joseph. But the most profound im- pact came from realizing that Koko could grieve. A gorilla loves a kitten, and mourns its dearlh. Is this so different from you or me? Brad and Trouble

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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 6 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
The truth is, I was surprised at the strength of his reaction. I had not expected that a book would impact him so strongly. Joseph and most of the hunters in Cameroon do not read very many books, but the level of presentation and the photos were convincing and moving as well. I gave a dozen books to Joseph, some with French translations included, for him to distribute to his friends and mine in Yaounde, Bertoua, and the forest camps. This assignment he accepted happily. It was a message he was pleased to carry.
Poachers to Protectors. As I watched Joseph's bus rumble out of Limbe town the next day, I was certain that what had been done in other African countries converting poachers to protectors could also be accomplished in Cameroon. Joseph Melloh could be the first of many. He had the skills and the will to work in many aspects of the wildlife conservation movement. For that alone I was confident he would fulfill his agreement not to hunt. But at a deeper level, he had the capacity to be touched by the real intelligence and empathy of the gorillas he had spent so many seasons tracking for their meat. Surely, I believed, he could begin to track them to save their lives.
In the months that followed my sojourn in Cameroon, my confidence has been confirmed. Joseph has diligently recorded in his daily journal the events that matter to him most. As I read those notes I begin to recognize what brings a sense of achievement to his life; what motivates his striving to get through this hunting season and the next without killing apes or any other living being. I received a package in the mail from Joseph in August, three months after my departure. He had survived without hunting so far. He also built an addition on his house in preparation for the birth of his second child, and continued the planting in the village of Bordeaux where his family lives One intriging achievement from my viewpoint is
illustrated in these four ]ournal entries:
1 June: "I have left my wife's village to visit Davide in his camp"
2 June: "Davide and I have gone to the forest where he used to huit and we have met two groups of gorillas which I have asked him not to shoot. He accepted not to kill them. I have spent the night there with him in the forest. He only got some monkey for his market.
3 June: "Davide and I have passed another night in the forest."
4 June: "I have left Davide's camp and I am with my family in the village again."
If Joseph did convince Davide not to shoot gorillas in the forest, it is a promising sign. The two men could have made $60 to $80 by butchering and selling a silver back from each group. The $20 per week that I advanced Joseph does not match such an economic incentive. Of course there are many factors that might influence Jo- seph to ask his friend to lower his gun and not shoot the gorillas they came acros in the forest. Both men would like to uset heir forest knowledge and tracking skills in legal and respected ways in the conservation business. Economic and social incentives are at work in all such cases. I believe that the two men envision something better in their future; some benefit that can come from saving gorillas rather than killing them. And then there is the question of caring, intrinsically, for the apes. Joseph did show the book Koko 's Kitten to Davide. They discussed it, and Davide was sur- prised, affected. Perhaps there are more hunters in the forest who have heard that gorillas can talk, and grieve.
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 7 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
Fruit is Scarce, Nothing Accomplished. Despite his small success in wildlife protection, Joseph reported that his family had failed in their farming program. The fruit and honey were scarce: not enough money had been made to last till the harvest. To help Joseph get through the end of 1997 without hunting, we sent him another small stipend, and the Biosynergy Institute (BSI) made a contract that defined four aims: 1) To encourage Joseph and his family to maintain their health and well-being during the period of his transition into a new life-career. 2)To guide Joseph in obtaining the training and employment that will transform his skill and understanding of Cameroon wildlife into assets for wildlife protection, education, and touring. 3) To provide us with reliable information so that BSI and its donors can effectively audit and support the needs and accomplishments of Joseph and his family in this transition. 4) To assure that Joseph and his family refrain from the hurting trapping, pus- chase, and eating of all animals whose populations are vulnerable to extinction. and that they focus their energy and resources on the new activities and accomplishments they must make in order to serve the wildlife conservation effort.
Joseph continued the year without hunting, and sent his journal as promised. But conservation work was harder to find than we had hoped. Then in February, 1998, Joseph made a big change: he moved with his wife and two young sons to Yaounde. There he hecame affiliated with a Cameroon organization, Center for Environment and Development (CED), which has agreed to help him find work in conservation. In March, 1998, I was able to meet with the director of CED and begin design of a program to help Joseph become the first of many hunters whom we hope to convert from poachers to protectors of wildlife. At that time we set up a fund to provide a small monthly stipend for Joseph till the end of l998, while he searched for a location where he may develop a wildlife protectors' project.
Joseph's wife Delphin and their young sons had never been outside the Eastern Province. It has been hard for them to survive in the city, and we need to send additional funds for basic expenses-- medicine, utensils and electricity not required in the forest. Joseph has continued to write in his journal with dogged reliability, though many nights in his little dark apartment he could say no more than "nothing accomplished today."
Outsiders Who Conserve. In June Joseph visited a rich forest area in the Eastern Province where he was invited by the leaders of a small isolated village to come and start his project. In August, 1998, he moved there to become friends with the people, explore the forest, and bebin to develop a working relationship with local residents. His first goal is to organize a wildlife protection team and establish a safe protected area. Hopefully, this team will help him habituate two gronps of gorillas, so that scientists and select visitors can begin to study them. The village chief is excited to have such a project in which outsiders who conserve, rather than exploit, will come for the first time to this location,
Unfortunately the program is more easily conceived than accomplished. Resourceful as he is, Joseph needs professional and financial support for his project. An endowment for him and his family for another two years is basic. This would keep Joseph out of the bushmeat business, and by his presence reduce the threat to gorillas and other endangered animals in the new area. But to find and hire the protessionals with relevant expertise to train Joseph and other hunters in wildlife protection and to develop and establish conservtion study areas in the forests of Cameroon is what is ultimately needed. Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 7 ON THE ROAD WITH A GORILLA HUNTER: TURNING POACHERS TO PROTECTORS Anthony Rose, Ph.. D. The Biosynergy Institute Hermosa Beach, California USA
It is not an easy path. Critics argue what even if Joseph is trustworthy, village and forest people will require constant surveillance to assure that they don't slaughter habituated apes, once they know how and where to track them. Most people agree that committed outsiders must he involved to help establish social behaviors and values that assure long-term success. But professional talent goes where the funds are: conservationists and social change agents must make a living. Government and private agencies in places like Cameroon are so poorly funded, they can't perform their assigned duties, let alone start new programs, without international support.
Ironically, this whole effort could be launched for the price of one Range Rover: the luxury car that I saw a wealthy Cameroonian drive to the bushmeat market in Yaounde to buy golden cat and antelope on my last day in the capital. The cost of four or five such automobiles could put ex- hunters and professionals to work in a wildlife conservation project that would help village and forest people and save many thousands of endangered animals in the rain forests of Cameroon.
This takes us to the most crucial issue. So long as African gentry in expensive cars and European executives in mahogany-walled offices support the bushmeat trade our best efforts to protect the gorillas will fail. One hunter can be converted to a protector, but another will take his place. One habitat can be saved, while the others are destroyed.
Hundreds of projects and programs have been tried in the past, and hundreds of new and better options are in the works. But all have failed and all will fail, if we don't attain the political will to do all that is required to stop the illegal bushmeat commerce. This is why we are urging everyone who is a friend to the great apes of Africa to send letters to their national ambassadors in bushmeat countries, asking them to help the African heads of state take real action to stop the slaughter of apes and other endangered wildlife. When there is the political will, then we shall find the way.
To Save Them Both. I went to Cameroon's Eastern Province to experience life In the bush with commercial hunters. I came back convinced that these men and the social-economic systems in which they are caught can be changed in ways that will restore and enrich the people and the natural heritage. My commitment to facilitate this change remains strong--I believe that the will can produce the way. In Tokasa Camp one balmy afternoon I handed Joseph the video camera and asked him to interview me. He was delighted, and quickly got right to the point.
"Dr. Anthony, are you interested in Joseph because I am a hunter, or because you want to improve my life?" he asked.
I thought hard before answering. "When I first came here to Tokasa Camp it was so I could learn about the hunters, and see if I could help them to make a better life for themselves, and for the wild animals that live here. But now, after living with you for all these days, it has become a personal thing for me. Now I also want to help you, Joseph, and your family, to make a better life."
I went to Cameroon to save gorillas, and I became friend to the gorilla hunter. Now I must return to save them both.
Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 9 MISTER ROGERS VISITS KOKO'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARCH 3,1998
On July 23, 1998 (August 4 in some areas.) Koko was featured on an episode of Mister Roger's Neighborhood, the popular children's television program on PBS. Koko thoroughly enjoyed her March 3rd videotaping session with Fred Rogers, host of the show. She spent well over an hour gently leading him around her room, hugging and grooming him, removing his trademark zippered cardigan and his shoes and socks, and inviting him to play chase. When the suggested "script" called for a game of peek-a-boo, Koko readily participated, even for several retakes.
The show is part of a week-long series entitled "You and I Together." addressing the fears that young children often experience who faced with a new situation or a person who is different. The lesson is that there is more to people--and gorillas--than what you see on their "outsides."
The following excerpts are from the videotape transcription of die visit:
Penny enters Koko's kitchen, followed by Mister Rogers. Ron Cohn is already inside with the camera.
Penny: Hi, Koko. We have a visitor.
Koko: Koko-1ove.
Mister Rogers: Hello Koko. Hi Koko...
Koko purrs and signs Koko-love and hurry as Penny unlocks her room gate, and she opens the gate herself as soon as it is unlocked.
Koko first looks in the tote bag Mister Rogers brought and finds a stuffed Daniel Tiger toy. She puts the bag and toy down, holds Mister Rogers' hand to her lips, and smells his hand. She pulls him close and touches his face gently. Then she unceremoniously unzips Mister Rogers' trademark cardigan sweater.
P: You know how to work a zipper. Very good.
Koko holds Mister Rogers' hands, studies his tie, and then takes him by the hand and leads him into her room.
P: Show Mister Rogers your room. Oh, good idea.
Koko removes Mister Rogers' sweater, checks his mouth for gold teeth, and then invites him to "chase" her around the room. She blows a few notes on the harmonica he brought, and spends quite some time taking pictures with his camera.
P: You seem to want to do pictures today.
K: Come. (To Mister Rogers.)
She takes his hand and he sits down.
MR: How do you say love for sign language?
P: Can you show him how to say love? How do you say love?
Koko is busy exploring Mister Rogers' fingers with her lips.
K: What that, flower? (Touching Mister Rogers' cufflink.)
P: She's asking you about your cufflink, is that a flower.
Mr: That's a sun. And my grandfather gave me these.
P: It's a sun. It looks like a flower though....
K: Hurry...
P: Can we talk a little about love?
K: Frown.
P Frown? Oh honey! What? Love?
Brad and Trouble

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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 10 MISTER ROGERS VISITS KOKO'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARCH 3,1998
K: Love you visit... (To Mister Rogers.)
MR: Love (Trying the sign.)
K: Koko-love
MR: Oh thank you Koko.
P: That's very nice, she loves her visitor.
MR: I love visiting with you.
K: You do hurry go.
Koko takes Mister Rogers' hand as Penny explains her signs to him. He starts to follow Koko but Penny suggests that Mister Rogers would like to rest and they should sit down. As Penny continues to talk, Mister Rogers shows the Daniel Tiger toy and the harmonica to Koko.
P: Why don't we sit here.
Koko takes Mister Rogers' hand and again puts her lips to his fingers. She puts her arm around his neck
P: Oh, that's so nice. You're giving Mister Rogers a hug. That was very nice.
MR: Thank you, Koko.
K: Lipstick.
P: I don't think he has any of that in his pocket.
As Penny says this Koko reaches into his pocket and pulls out his hanky.
MR: She found my handkerchief. Where's Koko? Do you ever play peek-a-boo?
Koko holds the hanky up to her face briefly, then unfolds it and blows her nose. She is turned away from Penny and Mister Rogers as she does this.
MR: Oh, she knows what that's for.
P: Koko, you do know
K: Sneeze, no look. (i.e., for sneezes, not peek-a-boo)
P: It's for sneezing. Koko checks Mister Rogers' pockets again, unbuttons his shirt, and plays with the microphone on his tie. She asks Mister Rogers to chase again, but Penny tells her they want to rest.
Penny holds up the cat towel that Koko and Mister Rogers have been using to play peek-a-boo.
P: And I bet you could show him about your favorite color.
K: That red. (Pointing to the red on the towel.)
P: That's red. She's teaching you a sign.
Mister Rogers tries the sign.
MR: Is that how you say red? This way?
P: Did he do it right?
K: Sit down.
P: We are sitting down, sweetie.
With her back to Penny, Koko produces a new gesture, her two hands cradled together. [At the time Penny read the gesture as chase, but later after viewing the videotape, she realized that Koko was probably trying to say she wanted Mister Rogers to sit closer.]
P: I know you want to chase. We were learning red.
She holds up the towel again.
Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 11 MISTER ROGERS VISITS KOKO'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARCH 3,1998
K: Upper fake tooth have. (And she pulls Mister Rogers close.)
P: You have any upper gold teeth?
Koko checks Mister Rogers' mouth., and grooms his eyebrows
K: Visit hurry. Chase hurry go foot.
MR: That's your foot.
P: How about if he just tickles your foot?
MR: May I tickle your foot?
Koko doesn't respond, but he tickles her foot Koko less hirn tickle for a moment, then moves his hand
K: Hurry.
Mister Rogers moves his foot over and Koko lifts his pants leg, then unties his shoe.
MR: You're doing a great job with that.
P: You're really good at that. You know just how to take shoes off.
Koko takes off his shoe, then his sock.
P: Now she can tickle your foot.
Koko smells Mister Rogers' foot.
K: Stink.
...then tickles it.
MR: It tickles! (He laughs.) Could you put your foot beside my foot?
First, Koko unties and removes his other shoe.
P: She' s got another foot to work on. We're going to do the other one first.
Mister Rogers helps Koko remove his sock when she has trotible with it.
MR: It's hard to get it over the heel, isn't it?
Koko takes his arm.
K: Time. (On Mister Rogers' watch,)
P: What time? Time for tickle?
Koko holds up her foot.
K: Foot.
Mister Rogers holds his foot up to Koko's, sole to sole.
K: Foot (On Mister Rogers' foot.)
Koko moves in closer and grooms Mister Rogers' fingers again, then lies down leaning on him as he pats her shoulder. She sits back up. Next, Koko and Mister Rogers try on a red felt hat, and Koko puts the tote bag on like a hat. She initiates another game of chase, signing "You chase. Chase foot." "Hurry," and Good you chase."
At Penny's suggestion they all sit down again. Koko gazes at Mister Rogers. He touches her hand as it rests on his arm.
Brad and Trouble

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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 12 MISTER ROGERS VISITS KOKO'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARCH 3,1998
MR: (To Ron.) Could we get those two hands together?
The camera zooms in on their clasped hands. After a few seconds Koko pulls her hand away. Mister Rogers strokes her foot.
MR: Your feet.
Koko takes his hand. Mister Rogers touches her fingernails.
P: Nails.
MR: Nails.
P: What other body parts do you share?
K: Ear.
MR: And we both have ears, and we both have noses, and eyes, and mouths.
K: Upper-taketooth.
MR: And teeth.
P: And teeth.
K: Upper-faketooth.
Koko grooms Mister Rogers' hand
P: What else?
Koko examines his cufflink.
P: And you don't have cufflinks.
K: Look.
P: Yes, look at those cufflinks That's different from you.
MR: That's different. You don't need them. You think I could put on my sweater? Cause you don't need a sweater. You have such wonderful fur.
P: It's cold. There's the sweater.
Mister Rogers gets his sweater.
MR: Can I put this back on?
He starts to put it on, and Koko checks the pockets
MR: Anything in there? Think you could help me with the zipper?
Mister Rogers Zips the sweater part way.
MR: Could you help me zip it up?
Koko "helps" by promptly unzipping it and taking it off him again!
They work on getting some more video shots of the requested activities. such as peek-a-boo with the cat towel and playing the harmonica. Koko shows Mister Rogers one of her alligator toys. He takes another picture of her.
Koko blows gently at Mister Rogers, then she looks away.
MR: There's is much to think about, isn't there? You're such a wonderful hostess. You share so many of your things. Could you show me your teeth? Could I see your teeth again?
Koko looks at Mister Rogers. and grooms his hand with her lips.
MR: Oh, thank you.
They sit. Mister Rogers takes Koko's hand. She pulls away at first, then lets him hold it.
K: Knee (on Mister Rogers' knee) chase.
MR: Chase again?
They chase.
Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 13 MISTER ROGERS VISITS KOKO'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARCH 3,1998
After a session of writing on the sign checklist, Koko hugs Mister Rogers.
MR: Thank you, Koko.
Koko holds the hug, looks toward the camera, then over Mister Rogers's shoulder, then back at the camera. Penny takes pictures then sits down beside them.
MR: There's your good friend.
P: Hi. baby.
Koko tucks her chin as Penny reaches to touch it.
P: No, you're not a baby, you're a big girl.
Koko grooms Mister Rogers' face.
Penny and Koko blow gently at each other across Mister Rogers.
MR: And what does this mean?
P: It's just a greeting, to see what you're maybe been eating, what you smell like.
MR: It's a greeting?
P: Yeah. Who are you? Like who.
MR: Isn't that lovely?
P: Like who. Who.
MR: Who. Koko produces her version of the spoken who, a soft blow with a voiced sound like her purr. It really does sound like who.
P: That's a happy sound.
MR: Is it?
P: That's a purr.
MR: Can you teach me how to do that? (Makes a purr sound.) Like that?
Koko just sits with her arms around his waist.
At the end of the visit Mister Rogers is in the kitchen sitting on a chair, and Koko is on the floor with the camera. She takes a picture.
P: Oh, Koko fixed the camera! You're so smart.
MR: Should we give it to Penny?
He attempts to take the camera from her, but Koko keeps using it. She blows on the lens to clean it.
P: Yes, good girl!
Penny takes the camera and winds it.
P: I think we're almost to the end. Got one more left.
Penny gives Koko the camera and Koko takes a picture and hands the camera to Mister Rogers
MR: Good! Thank you
Mister Rogers and Koko exchange "blow greetings."
MR: Thank you very much, Koko, for the visit. I hope that we'll meet again.
K: Foot.
She takes his hand and pulls it toward her.
K: Hurry sit on.
MR: OK, we will. OK. I hope we have another visit soon again, 'cause we're friends now.
Koko stares at his face, perhaps realizing that this new friend is about to depart She gazes into his face for a long moment, then picks up the stuffed alligator and touches its mouth to his knee. Note: If you missed it the first time, the Mister Rogers' neighborhood episode featuring Koko is tentatively scheduled to re-air in early March 1999. Check your TV listings or contact your local PBS station for the date they will rerun show. Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 14 KOKO'S INTERNET CHAT
Koko made high-tech history on April 28, 1993. She starred in the first ever interspecies online "chat" session. America Online (A0L) hosted the unique event, which captured worldwide media attention and was attended by one of the largest chat audiences in AOL history. Of the approximately 13,000 people who submitted questions, about 8,000 were recorded as "viewers" during the online session. Another estimated 10,000 people logged on through other Internet access points such as EnviroLink. The chat was presented by H.E.A.V.E.N., EnviroLink, AOL Live and The Gorilla Foundation.
Questions from the online audience were screened by an AOL chat facilitator and relayed to Penny by phone in Koko's room. Penny then asked Koko the questions and relayed Koko's signed and\or behavioral responses to the chat facilitator who typed them onto the screen. Ron Cohn videotaped the entire session.
Unfortunately, this translation process was a bit awkward arid resulted in some understandable glitches. With Penny speaking faster than the AOL typist could type, and sonic words being rnisunderstood over the phone lines, the original online transcript of the chat was very misleading. Following the chat, a few print media represented that Koko produced some non sequiturs, but this had more to do with misheard words, Lost context and lag time than Koko's language abilities. In any future Internet events we will take steps to overcome these problems.
From Koko's perspective the Internet chat session simply required her to spend about an hour of quality time with the two people who raised her. But the 4,000 e-mail messages we received in the next few day revealed just how wide an audience Koko was able to reach through this new medium. There were messages from around the world, including Russia, Finland, Germany, England, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Argentina, and Malaysia.
The following are some brief excerpts from the transcript of the chat. A complete transcript, corrected and complete with information from the videotape of the session, is available on our web site at www.gorilla.org.
Penny: Hey, Cutie.
Penny swivels Koko's chair around so they face each other.
P: Let me explain what we're doing.
Koko: Fine.
P: We're going to be on the phone with a lot of people who are going to ask us questions.
Brad and Trouble
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GORILLA JOURNAL of The Gorilla Foundation Vol. 21 #1 1998 part 14 KOKO'S INTERNET CHAT
K: Nipple.
P: ...about you and about me. Lots of people.
[Note: When Koko does not know or cannot easily execute a sign for a spoken word that we use she frequently substitutes a sign which has a similar sounding English gloss. Nipple for people is a common example.]
K: That red pink (Indicating Penny's fusehia-colored shirt.)
P: That red pink. Yes, right!
K: Hurry good.
P: This is red-this is pink, exactly.
K: Pink, there. (Reaching for Penny's pocket which contains treats.)
P: OK. That's the kind of thing they are going to ask.
K: Good.
...
while Penny talks on the phone, Koko makes her gorilla doll sign
AOL: MInyKitty asks: Koko, are you going to have a baby in the future? P: Koko, are you going to hive a baby in the future?
K: Koko-love eat...sip.
AOL: Me too!
P. What about a baby? You going to have baby?
"Unattention" was Koko's response when asked if she will have a baby in the future.
She's just thinking... and her hands are together.
K: Unattention
P: Oh, poor sweetheart! She said "unattention." And what that is, she covers her face with her hands....which means it's not happening, basically, or it hasn 't happened yet....I don't see it. AOL: That's sad! P: She is responding to the question. In other words, she hasn't had one yet, and she doesn't see a future here. The way the situation is actually with Koko & Ndume, she has two males to one female which is the reverse of what she needs. I think that is why she said that, because in our current situation, it isn't possible for her to have a baby. She needs several females and one male to have a family.
AOL: Do you see the situation changing when you get the gorilla preserve on Maui?
P: Yes, we do.
K: Listen.
P: Koko just signed "listen" and she wants to hear the phone so I'm going to hold ii to her for a second. Did you hear them? (To Koko)
K: Huff.
P: She just made a vocalization. Did you hear that? That was her talking on the phone.
AOL: Hi Koko! I can hear her! She breathed at me. This is so cool!
...
AOL: EFRN asks: Would Koko like to have a kitten, a dog, or gorilla as another friend?
P: Koko like to have a kitten, a dog, or gorilla as another friend? Which? Koko, would you like to have a kitten, dog. gorilla?
K: Dog.
P: She actually has two dog friends right now, one kitty, and two gorillas'
...
AOL: A basic earthy question for Koko from Earth2Kim: Koko, what is your favorite food, fruit, or vegetable?
P: OK, hey, we got a question for you, honey. What's your favorite food? The one you like eat the very best. What's your favorite food? The one you like best.... She's thinking...
AOL: People have a lot of stereotypes! (Referring to an earlier line of conversation with Penny)
K: Sip.
P: She likes drinks. What your favorite drink? Do you have a favorite drink?
K: Drink.
P: What kind?
K: Apple.
P: Apple drink.
Brad and Trouble
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Please could you forward information for my 8 year old child who at present is studying about Monkeys.
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Could you please let me know what a collection of Gorillas is called, as in a herd of cows.

Thank you.
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its cool but weird in some of the sit me and my bros enjoyed it

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