Koko

In 1971, a female lowland gorilla was born in the San Francisco Zoo.  At one year of age, she was given into the care of a behavioral researcher named  Francine Patterson.  The young gorilla was named Koko.  

Koko has lived with Francine Patterson ever since. Koko is 41 years old now.  Over the years, she has learned to sign with her hands (American sign language). She can use 1,100 different signs and can understand more than 2,000 words in spoken English.

Koko with Francine Patterson

What can be said about Koko?  She is an animal; a primate, sharing all but about one percent of the DNA genetic code that we humans have in our cells. The normal life of gorillas is in Central and West Africa, living in small family units, eating mostly plants. Wild gorillas are shy creatures, who divide most of their time between munching and snoozing. They are generally quiet and non-aggressive, except when threatened.

The difference between humans and other animal species has traditionally involved the concept of sentience.  A sentient being is one that feels pleasure and pain, and is capable of at least a modicum of awareness of  itself. There are those that hold the view that even higher animals like gorillas are incapable to such feelings.  

Koko is without question a sentient being. She is intelligent (as gorillas go), and very much an emotional being.

Nothing demonstrates Koko's ability to  feel deep emotion than her relationship with her pet kitten, which she herself named 'All Ball'.

Koko and 'All Ball'

Koko cared for the kitten like it was her own baby.

Unfortunately, the tale of Koko and 'All Ball' took an unexpected turn that fully demonstrated just how sentient Koko is. 

The following link is to a video that shows Koko's touching reaction to some very bad news about 'All Ball'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqTUG8MPmGg


Gorillas are not humans.  There is a difference. But like so many other animal species, there is ample evidence that they are capable of feeling pleasure and pain; of being happy or sad.

In the case of the gorilla, there is only a small area in the Congo River basin and in Rwanda where they are indigenous.  Their numbers have been in constant decline over the past few decades.  Habitat loss, due to human encroachment is the biggest cause.  The human population has exploded in the few places where gorillas live in the wild.  Pretty much all of the people living in those places must survive off of what the land provides. There is some agriculture, but the biggest part of the protein in the human diet in those places is from wild animals.  About 20% of animals killed by hunters for human consumption are primates, including gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos. The term used to reduce these wild creatures into a market commodity is 'bushmeat'. I wrote an earlier blog entry about bushmeat in 09/08/2012.

The future of gorillas like Koko and other primates in the wild is not good.  In fact, that's probably a big league understatement. The human population in the Congo is currently about 76 million. That number is expected to grow to 180 million by 2050.   Given that most people in the Congo depend on bushmeat,  it's hard to imagine that any kind of wild animal species will survive.   Knowing this pains me to the core. I so wish there was something I could do about it.