Penny Patterson tries to calm her world-famous charge, Koko the gorilla. Patterson, who recently spoke at De Anza College, first met Koko in 1972, and has helped take care of her ever since.
Photograph courtesy of Ronald H. Cohn
Famous gorilla teacher speaks at De Anza
By Jennifer Zhang
Koko is the world's most famous gorilla, and her popularity continues to help educate people everywhere about her species and the devastation threatening its well-being.
Cupertino residents got a rare "up close and personal" opportunity to learn more about Koko on May 9 at De Anza College. In a forum cosponsored by the school's environmental studies department and the Commonwealth Club, Penny Patterson, Koko's longtime teacher and friend, as well as the president of The Gorilla Foundation, talked about interspecies communication, facts about wild gorillas and the foundation's plan to construct a unique gorilla preserve in west Maui, Hawaii.
Koko is a 31-year-old female lowland gorilla who has challenged conventional views on gorilla intelligence by learning to communicate more than 1,000 words in American Sign Language and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English.
Dr. Patterson, a developmental psychologist, first met Koko in 1972 as she pursued her desire to work with primates. She volunteered to take care of Koko but said she had no idea what she was getting into.
Initially she planned to spend four years on Project Koko, or The Gorilla Language Project, which involves teaching Koko American Sign Language. Her short-term commitment, however, turned into a labor of love.
"Koko is just like a child and has a persona," Patterson said. "I don't see her as an animal. The zoo at the time couldn't rehabilitate her to her mother this maternal instinct in me made me want to take care of her. It's like 'I have to fight for my child.' "
According to Patterson, Koko calls herself "people gorilla."
Koko's typical day is not very different from that of her human counterparts. She gets up at about 8:30 a.m. After having breakfast, she works with Patterson and enjoys outdoor activities such as playing on a broad fire hose, which is one of her favorite yard furnishings. She also enjoys playing with All Ball, Smoky, Lips and all her other kittens.
In the afternoon, Koko watches television news on PBS and sometimes movies. One of her favorite movies is Free Willy, although she does not enjoy the "bad scenes." According to Patterson, Koko anticipates these unpleasant scenes and usually avoids them by turning off the TV.
Koko has not been the only "spokes-ape," as the project once also involved Michael, a male lowland silverback gorilla who was two years younger than Koko. Michael had a working vocabulary of more than 600 signs. He passed away in 2000 from a rare type of heart disease at the age of 27.
Patterson said Koko was traumatized by Michael's death. In the weeks following the tragic incident, Koko uttered frequent, mournful cries. Her body gestures, facial expressions and signs suggested that Koko was very sad to lose her companion of 24 years.
As Koko slowly recovered from Michael's death, she became closer to Ndume, a male lowland silverback gorilla who joined the foundation in 1991 as Koko's intended mate. The desire and experiment to increase gorilla populations through captive breeding, however, has not been successful.
Patterson gave some grim statistics about the endangered gorilla population throughout the world. According to the journal published by Patterson's foundation, gorillas could become extinct within 20 years if nothing is done to protect them.
In an effort to save gorillas, Patterson and the foundation are working on the construction of the 70-acre Maui preserve located in west Maui, Hawaii.
"We want to provide an alternative, a home for them," Patterson said. "It's inappropriate to put them in zoos."
For more information about Koko and the Gorilla Foundation, write to The Gorilla Foundation at1733 Woodside Road, Suite 330, Redwood City, CA. 94061 or call 650.216.6450
Cupertino, California Since 1947
