Comments On: Apes and Monkeys

25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.3 #1 February 1980 excerpt
HISTORY AND GROWTH OFF THE GORILLA FOUNDATION
The Gorilla Foundation was incorporated in the spring of 1976 as a public foundation supporting scientific and educational work with the great apes, particularly gorillas. Our goals include the fostering of programs, both nationally and internationally, for the conservation and propagation of gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans; the support and encouragement of the study of behavioral and linguistic development of the great apes and of the optimum conditions for their care in captivity.
In order to make information about gorillas available to a large number of people, membership categories in the Gorilla Foundation were established in September of 1976, and the number of members has more than doubled annually since that time: By the end of 1976, there were approximately 50 members; by the end of 1977, ust over 500; at the close of 1978, more than 1,200; and at the close of last year, our records showed just under 2,500 active members.
Grants have been awarded to the Gorilla Foundation for its language research with gorillas by the National Geographic Society (we are now in our fourth year of support), the David and Lucille Packard Foundation ($1,000 toward relocation), the Favrot Fund ($15,000 for computer facilities and $5,000 toward the new facility), and the William Penn Foundation ($8,800 toward color videotaping equipment).
The costs of relocation (from the Stanford University campus to private facilities in Woodside in 1979) totaled $6,500 and an estimate for restructuring the existing out-building for the gorillas is $35,000. Your memberships help us with those research expenses not covered by grants, our payments on Koko's and Michael's new home, and additional learning materials, toys, and an occasional treat-all of which help provide the gorillas with the healthy and stimulating environment so essential to their happiness and the development of their full learning potential. Additional and earmarked donations will help to make possible a perment building large enough to house the gorillas when they are grown and a spacious outdoor enclosure where they can play and exercise freely. Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.3 #1 February 1980 excerpt
HISTORY AND GROWTH OFF THE GORILLA FOUNDATION
The Gorilla Foundation was incorporated in the spring of 1976 as a public foundation supporting scientific and educational work with the great apes, particularly gorillas. Our goals include the fostering of programs, both nationally and internationally, for the conservation and propagation of gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans; the support and encouragement of the study of behavioral and linguistic development of the great apes and of the optimum conditions for their care in captivity.
In order to make information about gorillas available to a large number of people, membership categories in the Gorilla Foundation were established in September of 1976, and the number of members has more than doubled annually since that time: By the end of 1976, there were approximately 50 members; by the end of 1977, ust over 500; at the close of 1978, more than 1,200; and at the close of last year, our records showed just under 2,500 active members.
Grants have been awarded to the Gorilla Foundation for its language research with gorillas by the National Geographic Society (we are now in our fourth year of support), the David and Lucille Packard Foundation ($1,000 toward relocation), the Favrot Fund ($15,000 for computer facilities and $5,000 toward the new facility), and the William Penn Foundation ($8,800 toward color videotaping equipment).
The costs of relocation (from the Stanford University campus to private facilities in Woodside in 1979) totaled $6,500 and an estimate for restructuring the existing out-building for the gorillas is $35,000. Your memberships help us with those research expenses not covered by grants, our payments on Koko's and Michael's new home, and additional learning materials, toys, and an occasional treat-all of which help provide the gorillas with the healthy and stimulating environment so essential to their happiness and the development of their full learning potential. Additional and earmarked donations will help to make possible a perment building large enough to house the gorillas when they are grown and a spacious outdoor enclosure where they can play and exercise freely. Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.4 #1December 1980 excerpt
CONVERSATIONS WITH KOKO Barbara Hiller
September 11, 1980
K: Me clown.
B: You are a funny clown.
K: Clown nose you.
B: You're a clown nose.
K: Koko good.
B: You're a clown nose.
K: Unattention.
B: I'm teasing you, you're very pretty.
K: Koko gorilla good.
B: Would you like to be able to fly like a bird?
K: Down.
B: You'd rather stay on the ground?
K: Down floor.
B: I think you're smart.
Koko laughs.
September 18,1980
B: Why is the man fixing the window?
K: Out out bad.
B: Why did the window come out?
K: Sorry out.
B: Who made it come out?
K: Me Koko.
B: Did you break it?
K: Break out.
B: Why did you break it?
K: Sorry Koko good.
B: Would you like to talk about something else?
K: Please like. Sip drink lip sip Koko good.
(Koko refers to women and girls as "lips.")
October 9,1980
B: Tell me something interesting about Penny.
K: Good teeth bite.
B: Whobite?
K: Teeth good whistle.
B: Was Penny whistling?
K: Teeth whistle.
B: You and Penny whistling?
K: Good whistle.
(Later I leamed that Penny had been trying to imitate a bird call by whistling.)
October 11, 1980
B: How about signing chase? (Voice only.)
K: Finished work.
October 16, 1980
B: What do people put on their hands when it's cold?
K: Stethoscope.
B: Koko. That's weird.
K: Think funny.
Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.4 #1December 1980 excerpt
CONVERSATIONS WITH KOKO Barbara Hiller
September 11, 1980
K: Me clown.
B: You are a funny clown.
K: Clown nose you.
B: You're a clown nose.
K: Koko good.
B: You're a clown nose.
K: Unattention.
B: I'm teasing you, you're very pretty.
K: Koko gorilla good.
B: Would you like to be able to fly like a bird?
K: Down.
B: You'd rather stay on the ground?
K: Down floor.
B: I think you're smart.
Koko laughs.
September 18,1980
B: Why is the man fixing the window?
K: Out out bad.
B: Why did the window come out?
K: Sorry out.
B: Who made it come out?
K: Me Koko.
B: Did you break it?
K: Break out.
B: Why did you break it?
K: Sorry Koko good.
B: Would you like to talk about something else?
K: Please like. Sip drink lip sip Koko good.
(Koko refers to women and girls as "lips.")
October 9,1980
B: Tell me something interesting about Penny.
K: Good teeth bite.
B: Whobite?
K: Teeth good whistle.
B: Was Penny whistling?
K: Teeth whistle.
B: You and Penny whistling?
K: Good whistle.
(Later I leamed that Penny had been trying to imitate a bird call by whistling.)
October 11, 1980
B: How about signing chase? (Voice only.)
K: Finished work.
October 16, 1980
B: What do people put on their hands when it's cold?
K: Stethoscope.
B: Koko. That's weird.
K: Think funny.
Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.6 #2 June 1983 excerpt
MEASURING KOKO'S MLU by Lyna Watson
As a graduate student at San Francisco State University and a research assistant to Dr. Patterson, I have had the opportunity to observe Koko's language use. During the Fall of 1980, I elaborated on a study of language development initially made by Dr. Patterson as part of her doctoral research. This study involved applying a measurement called the Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) to samples of Koko's signing. One indication of language acquisition in human children is the progressive increase in the length of their utterances.
We wanted to measure the current length of Koko's utterances. I taped two-hour samples of conversations with Koko once a week for eight weeks. After transcribing these tapes, each utterance was assigned to one of three response categories: spontaneous, elicited, or self directed. The difference between the spontaneous and elicited was based on whether or not Koko' s utterance was a response to a question.
I found that Koko's utterances had become longer since Patterson's assessment in 1974. At that time, Koko's average utterance was 1.82 signs long and her longest utterance was made up of 11 signs. In my smaller sample, Koko's MLU was 2.33 (excluding repeated signs as additional words) and her longest utterance was 9 signs long. The classification results were interesting. Spontaneous utterances made up 69% of my sample; elicited utterances were 19%; self di- rected, 12%.
Koko's MLU has continued to increase. More recent samples, taken in 1983, have shown it to be as high as 4.5. It should be noted that Ameslan [ASL] is a visual language and it is possible to utter two or more words simultaneously; therefore, such measures as MLU may not apply without correction for this difference. Brad and Trouble

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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.11, #1 December 1987 excerpt
FANTASY PLAY by Francine Patterson and Mary M. Kennedy {Part 1}
That great apes have imaginations is surprising to some, but was described in 1951 for the chimpanzee Vicki by Catherine Hayes in The Ape in Our House. Vicki was observed to create on her own a game involving an imaginary pull toy, and later allowed Hayes to participate.
Michael engaged in a similar game when he was younger. During solitary play he would run in circles with his eyes closed, pulling a blanket behind himself. As the tempo of his play increased, it would sometimes culminate in a scream, although he was in no danger or pain. It became apparent with repeated observations, that Michael's screams were in response to threats from imaginary blanket "monsters."
Koko, too, demonstrates her imagination in play. She has provided an understanding of the gorilla imagination never before possible by integrating language into these games. Several incidents are described below.
February 9, 1984
Koko gives her (toy) cat a drink from a bowl.
Barbara Hiller: That's very nice.
Koko leans over and shares the drink with the cat, making loud sipping noises.
Koko: (She picks up the cat.) Soft. Koko puts socks on the cat's head.
K: Hat.
Koko wraps a piece of cloth around the cat.
K: Koko good.
B: You keep your cat nice and warm.
Koko kisses her cat.
K: Cat that.
B: What do you call your cat?
K: Cat tiger cat know.
B: That's a nice name, Tiger.
K: Cat tiger (emphatic).
B: Sorry. Cat Tiger is a nice name.
K: Cat tiger Koko good.
Brad and Trouble

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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.11, #1 December 1987 excerpt
FANTASY PLAY by Francine Patterson and Mary M. Kennedy {Part 2}
April 25, 1987
Penny observes as Koko takes a doll and a multicolored pencil to her back room. She uses the pencil as if applying lipstick to her top and bottom lips and to write on an envelope. Koko takes her baby doll outside to her chute leading to the playyard.
K: Baby (over her doll).
Koko comes back into her front room.
K: Come. (To Penny, for her to follow Koko to the back room.)
K: Love. (To her doll, which she then strokes and kisses.)
She puts the baby into the purse it came in and zips it closed, puts the strap over her arm and signs,
K: No-there (pointing to the purse). Come. Come tickle. (To Penny, who declines this invitation to follow her to the back room;)
Koko settles in the back room with the baby doll and her gorilla Koko doll.
K: Drink nipple, baby. (Cradling her baby doll.)
K: Nipples (two hands) drink there (to gorilla doll's mouth).
Koko signs as she holds the baby doll in her lap.
K: You boy. (Or: "You Mike." The signs are 8 similar, and Koko signed away from Penny.)
P: Careful with her head or his head. (Voice only.)
Koko was pulling the neck of the baby doll.
K: Gorilla have (over the doll held on her chest).
Foot (Koko's sign for male, signed on the baby doll's foot).
Then Koko mouths the doll's foot.
K: You (indicating the baby doll).
Then she cradles the baby at her stomach.
K: That (on the gorilla doll's bellybutton area). Then Koko puts the baby doll on the gorilla doll's stomach, and signs,
K: Stomach (on the gorilla doll's stomach).
Koko then takes the baby doll, pulls its legs apart, shakes it, and then cradles it. Koko seems frus- trated. (Earlier, Penny had told her, "One day you'll have a baby, but you need to get Michael to help.") Next Koko strokes and kisses the baby doll, then cradles it. She goes to the kitchen and gets a book and a small monkey clip-toy. After mouthing the label on the toy, she tries to bite its face. But then she kisses and cradles it, and finally presses it face to face with the baby doll.
Although Cathy Hayes remembers her imaginary play with the chimpanzee Vicki as "a symbol of.. the tragedy of the language barrier that separates us," our understanding of Koko's solitary games is reinforced and deepened by the bridge of her language, allowing her to clarify her actions. Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.11, #1 December 1987 excerpt
FANTASY PLAY by Francine Patterson and Mary M. Kennedy {Part 2}
April 25, 1987
Penny observes as Koko takes a doll and a multicolored pencil to her back room. She uses the pencil as if applying lipstick to her top and bottom lips and to write on an envelope. Koko takes her baby doll outside to her chute leading to the playyard.
K: Baby (over her doll).
Koko comes back into her front room.
K: Come. (To Penny, for her to follow Koko to the back room.)
K: Love. (To her doll, which she then strokes and kisses.)
She puts the baby into the purse it came in and zips it closed, puts the strap over her arm and signs,
K: No-there (pointing to the purse). Come. Come tickle. (To Penny, who declines this invitation to follow her to the back room;)
Koko settles in the back room with the baby doll and her gorilla Koko doll.
K: Drink nipple, baby. (Cradling her baby doll.)
K: Nipples (two hands) drink there (to gorilla doll's mouth).
Koko signs as she holds the baby doll in her lap.
K: You boy. (Or: "You Mike." The signs are 8 similar, and Koko signed away from Penny.)
P: Careful with her head or his head. (Voice only.)
Koko was pulling the neck of the baby doll.
K: Gorilla have (over the doll held on her chest).
Foot (Koko's sign for male, signed on the baby doll's foot).
Then Koko mouths the doll's foot.
K: You (indicating the baby doll).
Then she cradles the baby at her stomach.
K: That (on the gorilla doll's bellybutton area). Then Koko puts the baby doll on the gorilla doll's stomach, and signs,
K: Stomach (on the gorilla doll's stomach).
Koko then takes the baby doll, pulls its legs apart, shakes it, and then cradles it. Koko seems frus- trated. (Earlier, Penny had told her, "One day you'll have a baby, but you need to get Michael to help.") Next Koko strokes and kisses the baby doll, then cradles it. She goes to the kitchen and gets a book and a small monkey clip-toy. After mouthing the label on the toy, she tries to bite its face. But then she kisses and cradles it, and finally presses it face to face with the baby doll.
Although Cathy Hayes remembers her imaginary play with the chimpanzee Vicki as "a symbol of.. the tragedy of the language barrier that separates us," our understanding of Koko's solitary games is reinforced and deepened by the bridge of her language, allowing her to clarify her actions. Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.14, #1 December 1990 excerpt
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN A LOWLAND GORILLA: KOKO'S FIRST TEN YEARS OF VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Francine G.P. Patterson and Ronald H. Cohn
The lowland gorilla Koko has been exposed to both sign language and spoken English from the age of one year. Analyses of her sign vocabulary development for the first ten years of the project were performed. Eight hundred seventy-six of Koko's signs qualified according to emitted criterion of spontaneous and appropriate use on one or more occasion and 290 signs met the Patterson criterion of such use on half the days of a given month. In addition to signs acquired from human teachers, Koko's vocabulary includes signs of her own invention such as body-hair and thermometer (6% of emitted signs), signs she has modulated or compounded, for example stinker and banana-lollipop (2%), signs learned from a second gorilla subject, such as hit-in-mouth andpull- out-hair (0.5%), and gestures occurring in uninstructed gorillas such as pound and come-gimme (1%). Koko's progress in acquiring language is compared to that of human children with respect to vocabulary size, sign articulation, generalization, and word types classified into functional categories. This gorilla's vocabulary development demonstrates parallels with that of human children, especially deaf children learning sign language, but her acquisition pace is significantly slower. Brad and Trouble
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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.15, #1 December 1991 excerpt
GORILLA FOUNDATION WELCOMES NEW GORILLA
The Gorilla Foundation is preparing to welcome a third gorilla! Ndume, a 10-year-old male from Cincinnati, will be introduced to Koko this winter. As he is younger and slightly smaller than Michael, we hope that Koko will find him an attractive mate. Video footage taken during his stay at the Brookfield Zoo shows him cuddling and playing with other adult and infant gorillas. Preparations for Ndume's arrival have been underway since September, when Dr. Edward Maruska, Director of the Cincinnati Zoo, contacted the Gorilla Foundation to offer Ndume on loan. Discussions between the Foundation and the zoo were advanced at the Species Survival Plan (SSP) meeting later that month.
The Foundation's participation in the Gorilla SSP then had to be approved by the Wildlife Conservation and Management Committee (WCMC) of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. We received a letter on November 18 from Bruce Reed, WCMC Chairman, granting this approval. We are especially grateful to the Gorilla SSP committee for recommending the transfer, and to the WCMC for approving our application.
Michael Dulaney, Area Supervisor for Primates, Cats and Small Mammals at the Cincinnati Zoo, has been instrumental in negotiating this transfer and invaluable in making the necessary arrangements. Through frequent phone conversations, he assisted in the careful planning of Ndume's journey to California. The San Diego Zoo has agreed to lend a specially-reinforced transport cage to ensure Ndume's security during the journey west
. On December 10, Ndume will be driven in a heated truck from Cincinnati to Indianapolis, and from there Federal Express will fly him to San Jose via Memphis. Ron Cohn and Michael Dulaney will accompany Ndume on the trip. Gorilla Foundation staff will meet the plane and drive Ndume the last few miles to his new residence.
In October, workers began preparing new indoor quarters for Ndume's use adjacent to the gorillas' large outdoor playyard. Meyer Metal Products in Fremont is fabricating Ndume's portable two-room suite. The concept for the floor plan was devised by Wayne Meyer to facilitate the introduction and initial interactions of the two gorillas.
Ndume was born October 10, 1981. He spent his first three weeks of life with his mother, but was nursery reared from that point on. He is one of four offspring produced by father Ramses 1 and mother Mata Hari at the Cincinnati Zoo. One of their infants survived only a few days. Ndume's brother Rumpel, seven years old, is at the St. Louis Zoo. His 5-year-old sister Rwanda went to the St. Louis Zoo in May 1988, to the Birmingham Zoo in May 1989, and returned to the Cincinnati Zoo in August of this year.
Ndume, whose name means "Male," fathered four offspring during three years at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. His firstborn, a male, died at birth. His daughter Baraka was born to Babs on August 19, 1990. This year, he's become the father of two sons: Chuma, born June28 to Alpha; and Zuza, born September 9 to Aquilina. Next year? We are keeping our fingers crossed. Brad and Trouble

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25th Anniversary Project Koko, "Gorilla" vol.18, #1 Winter 1994-95 excerpt
KOKO MAKES TELEVISION HISTORY
For years, television commercials have featured fictional "talking" animals of all sorts. Now, for the first time, the talking in a television ad is actually being done by a nonhuman-Koko. As a spokesperson for her species, Koko uses her sign language ability to make a simple yet eloquent appeal to humans on behalf of all gorillas.
Creation of this unique television public service ad was masterminded by Jon Steel, a long-time Gorilla Foundation member and a partner and general manager at the San Francisco advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Using Ron Cohn's videotape footage of Koko, Jon put together a team of people from his agency to handle all other aspects of the project, and coordinated the donation of time and expertise from other individuals and companies. Jon con- tinues to handle distribution of the ad.
San Francisco companies Phoenix Editorial and Veritel Video donated editing time and facili- ties. The ad's evocative background music was composed by Andy Newell of Earwax. Media placement was handled by Andrea Bouchante of SFM in New York.
Koko completed her portion of the ad in only one 30-minute filming session with Penny and Ron. She proved to be very patient and cooperative. Although working from a "script," Koko also ad-libbed with words Penny did not ask her to say, declaring, "Me gorilla good." After allowing Penny to pose her against a white backdrop, moving this way and that and looking at Ron's camera on request, Koko declared she was "finished" with adramatic sweep of her hands. Laughing, Penny told her, "No, you're not finished," and Koko graciously stayed put. The session's out-takes reveal several attempts to have Koko sign "cut" before making her exit:
Penny: Cut.
Koko: Cut.
P: OK, now you can come down.
Koko climbs down from her seat but puts her face fight up to the camera instead of moving away. They try again.
P: Say "cut," meaning "I'm finished." Cut...
K: Cut.
P: . .and then you can leave.
K: Good. (As she leaves.)
With her gentle, expressive face and clear, concise signs Koko very effectively implores viewers to "help" gorillas. English subtitles accompany her signing and also inform viewers that only 650 mountain gorillas remain in the world. Through the powerful medium of television, Koko's message raises public awareness about the plight of gorillas and other endangered spe cies. Her urgent plea for help can reach even people who are unlikely to learn about gorillas from other sources.
Koko's ad has already generated a positive response from viewers in California and Hawaii. Every time the spot airs, the phones start ringing in the Gorilla Foundation office.
If you have not yet seen Koko's ad on TV in your area, please contact your local TV stations and urge them to air it. Stations should call the Gorilla Foundation at (800) 634-6273 for more information about the ad or to obtain a tape. Brad and Trouble
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i am very interested in all of this, but especially in learning about koko (and michael's?) paintings. if anyone can fill me in, please do at jeremynr@aol.com. thanks!
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My neighbors' daughter just passed away the day before Thanksgiving. She worked very closely with the gorillas and was truly excited about Koko being on the internet. We in the neighborhood would like to make a donation to such a worthwhile cause instead of sending flowers to the family. Could you please provide me with such information? I guess I would like to know more about Koko and The Gorilla Foundation or the zoo where Koko lives. I will share this with my neighbors so we can make an informed decision. Thank you very much for your time! Amy Madden (BBMASM@AOL.Com)
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I recently saw a program on the plight of the gorillas. I was disturbed, distressed and angered that so little could be done to help them. Convinced that something MUST be done I began to entertain the notion that gorillas could possibly be relocated to another part of the world. Somewhere where the population is low, rainforest still somewhat plentiful and where the gorilla would be totally free and appreciated perhaps for it's touristic draw. I thought that perhaps Costa Rica would be an option since it is very close in latitude to the gorilla populations of Africa.
Of course there are hundreds of issues involved but COULD this possibly work?
Hundreds of other endangered species have been relocated with success please tell me if this makes any sense. If nothing else could you put me in touch with someone who would be willing to reply to my idea.

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I recently saw a program on the plight of the gorillas. I was disturbed, distressed and angered that so little could be done to help them. Convinced that something MUST be done I began to entertain the notion that gorillas could possibly be relocated to another part of the world. Somewhere where the population is low, rainforest still somewhat plentiful and where the gorilla would be totally free and appreciated perhaps for it's touristic draw. I thought that perhaps Costa Rica would be an option since it is very close in latitude to the gorilla populations of Africa.
Of course there are hundreds of issues involved but COULD this possibly work?
Hundreds of other endangered species have been relocated with success please tell me if this makes any sense. If nothing else could you put me in touch with someone who would be willing to reply to my idea.

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I have recently see the documentary on Koko and Micheal and it just blew me away at the compassion they show....i am now so interested in finding things out about them. Does anyone know where i can see Koko and Micheal? What state they are in and maybe an address that i can write to them at?

Thanks
Candi Fleeman
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