🕯️ LEGENDS GARDEN
🦍 Koko
Western lowland gorilla · Forever: California, 2018
Lives in Legends Garden
She was taught sign language and used around a thousand signs. She asked for a kitten for her birthday, was given one, named him All Ball, and grieved openly when he was killed by a car. Whatever the scientific debate about her language, the grief was not in dispute.
What they do
Cradles a tiny kitten against her chest and signs with her free hand.
Gentle, curious, and the first animal most people ever saw hold a conversation.
Lore
- ★She reportedly used around 1,000 signs and understood far more spoken English
- ★She chose her kitten herself from a litter and named him All Ball
- ★When told All Ball had died, she signed the words for sad and cried
- ★She lived to 46 and met a long line of visitors who came specifically to talk with her
Helping the real one
💛 Support Koko via The Gorilla FoundationThe organisation that raised and studied her, still working on gorilla conservation This opens their own official page. Money never touches this site.
Where this comes from
- CBS News Koko, the gorilla who knew sign language, dies at 46 ↗
- Al Jazeera Sign language fluent gorilla Koko dies at 46 ↗
Every link here was checked twice before it was published. If one is dead or wrong, tell us.