Koko the sign-language gorilla dies at 46. What did she teach us?
Koko’s life fundamentally shifted how humans understand both animals and language.
By Thomas Devlin
It is not very often a non-human primate becomes famous, but Koko the gorilla was definitely a superstar. She met Robin Williams, Mr. Rogers and graced the cover of National Geographic, in addition to being the subject of numerous documentaries and children’s books. She was known for her supreme gentleness, which is shocking to encounter in an animal that is twice the size of a human. Above all, however, Koko is famous for learning sign language, which forever changed the relationship between humans and animals.
Koko, whose full name is Hanabiko, is a western lowland gorilla who was born into captivity at the San Francisco Zoo in 1971. She was used for animal behavior studies, and eventually fell under the care of Penny Patterson, an animal psychologist. Patterson started her work at the Zoo, but in 1976, she helped found a nonprofit so she could purchase Koko and continue caring for her.
Starting from an early age, Koko was taught a version of sign language that Patterson termed “Gorilla Sign Language,” as it’s not exactly like American Sign Language or any other sign language out there. Still, over Koko’s life, she learned over 1,000 signs, giving her a complex, if somewhat rudimentary, means for communicating with humans.
There is some debate over exactly how advanced Koko’s language skills were. Penny Patterson’s research has argued that Koko’s sign-language development mimics that of a child learning a first language, proving that gorillas and humans aren’t so different after all.
On the other hand, there’s been strong criticism that Koko’s abilities have been greatly exaggerated on purpose, or perhaps the researchers have interpreted the sign language too loosely. There is a possibility researchers fell for the Clever Hans effect, meaning the people who spoke to Koko were subconsciously signaling with body language to indicate which sign Koko should use. If that were the case, it would mean she didn’t know what she was signing. It can be very hard to differentiate between authentic language development and thoughtless mimicking, especially because language development starts with mimicking.
Even worse, there’s evidence that Koko was mistreated by her handlers at certain points in her life. In 2012, a number of people resigned from the Gorilla Foundation, saying that Koko’s health was not properly looked after and that she was overweight. There was also a disturbing sexual harassment lawsuit that claimed Patterson once insisted that two female employees of the Gorilla Foundation show Koko their nipples. This surely reflects poorly on the Gorilla Foundation, though Koko remains blameless.
No matter what, Koko did expand our understanding of animals. It will take more than one gorilla to prove that non-human primates can learn a language, after all. Her greatest contribution was opening our eyes to new possibilities, and getting people around the world excited about the possibilities of human-animal conversation. And even if she did not have as complex a vocabulary as Patterson recorded, Koko did prove that gorillas have a language ability beyond what was previously thought.
Koko was truly a remarkable animal. She adopted kittens as pets, learned to play the recorder and was a beacon of kindness for over 30 years. More research will need to be done before we know exactly what Koko’s legacy is, but we do know that her life will inform the relationships between humans and nature forever.
American Sign Language is becoming more popular, but it’s still marred by misconceptions. Here’s a guide to what ASL is, how it was made and why the birth of sign languages is such a cool phenomenon.
