h/t Aaron Burr.
FOX: Koko, the gorilla who mastered sign language and counted the actor Robin Williams and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea among her friends, has died at age 46.
The Gorilla Foundation said the western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation’s preserve in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains on Tuesday.
Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo, and Dr. Francine ‘Penny’ Patterson began teaching the gorilla sign language that became part of a Stanford University project in 1974.
She was said to be able to communicate with humans with 1,000 words of sign language and was able to understand 2,000 words of spoken English. MORE
SNIP: I’m not a fan of primates, but Koko was pretty cute when she was a baby. Video at the links.
More info @ Gorilla Foundation
Sad loss especially considering how few of these animals are left on earth. They’ll all be gone before we can discover more about them.
Noble creature for sure.
Anthropomorphism at its best. She liked Fred Rogers, too.
Smarter than most Dem politicians.
A moment of humor: the pop-up ad below the story was a photo of Whoopi Goldberg!
it was MURTHER!!!!!!!! Murther most foul