Koko’s Final Message to Humanity — The Real Version
Believe me. I speak fluent Kokoese.
Koko (1971–2018) was a gorilla born in a zoo who “enjoyed” being an experimental subject for (almost) five decades of her life.
For all I know, she was treated well and had a good life. However, I’m 110% sure it wasn’t the best life she could have lived because one crucial element was missing: freedom.
While we could argue some breeds of cats are born/selected to be pets, that’s not the case for gorillas. Gorillas enjoy living with other gorillas in gorilla-friendly environments doing gorilla stuff, like wrestling, hugging, and generally living with other gorillas in social structures comparable to human ones. Gorillas aren’t supposed to learn sign language and spend their lives with humans as Koko did.
There’s a video of Koko, which people present as “Koko’s final message to humanity.” You can watch it here (link and embed below):
In summary, Koko signs the following message during the video: “Koko is love. Nature is love. Both love…
