RIP Koko

cornflake

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Koko, the lowland gorilla who was the first of her kind to learn and communicate in human sign language, has died.

I'm gutted. I don't think animals should be kidnapped or housed for study, but Koko was taken in decades ago, and loved and treated as well as captive animals can be, and taught the world so much about the intelligence of other species, their capacity for emotion, understanding, love...

Also, in captivity, she got to have cats, which she wouldn't have in the wild, and which she loved so much. Here's a video of her and her cats, from All Ball on to the Ms. Grey and Ms. Black, whom she had until her passing.


The world is a terrible. RIP Koko.
 
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cornflake

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Alex was not isolated and did have contact with other African Greys -- and most live far longer than 45, they have like human lifespans. I don't know where you got that idea. He had a heart attack; it's not like he withered away sadly from lack of care. He was beloved by Dr. Pepperberg and those who worked with her.

Again, Koko was taken in by her research partners decades ago, when they freed her from a zoo and saved her life.
 
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I just downloaded a book about Alex. It sounds like Alex had a really amazing relationship with Dr. Pepperberg. I think the book will be fascinating, even though I also am against wild animals being held in captivity. I understand why it was done, years ago, for research. Now zoos and circus' (which are fortunately going away) are another story.

I'm sorry to see that Koko has passed away. That picture of her with her cat is just too much.
 
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Take Wikipedia for whatever value you afford it, but....

From the Wiki page.... "Koko's training began at the age of 1."

Isolated from a natural environment to a more clinical one.

From the Wiki page on Alex: "Alex's death on 6 September 2007, at age 31, came as a surprise, as the average life span for a grey parrot is 45 years."

I disagree with the taking the animal out of its natural environment to learn Letterman-like stunts (stupid pet tricks). I am not calling either animal a pet, but learning human sign language and English vocabulary is relational (perhaps to the animals).

I am in favor of animal behavior studies in the wild, but these are a bit much, at least for me.
 
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Enlightened said:
Take Wikipedia for whatever value you afford it, but....

From the Wiki page.... "Koko's training began at the age of 1."

Isolated from a natural environment to a more clinical one.

From the Wiki page on Alex: "Alex's death on 6 September 2007, at age 31, came as a surprise, as the average life span for a grey parrot is 45 years."

I disagree with the taking the animal out of its natural environment to learn Letterman-like stunts (stupid pet tricks). I am not calling either animal a pet, but learning human sign language and English vocabulary is relational (perhaps to the animals).

I am in favor of animal behavior studies in the wild, but these are a bit much, at least for me.
Click to expand...

Wikipedia is a useless dumpster fire of specious "information."

Koko did start learning sign, which is NOT a parlour trick ffs, it's a language, at the age of one, after she was born in the San Diego Zoo, then got terribly ill there and was rescued and nursed to health by her people, who she remained with for life. I'm fully against zoos, but there she was, and it was close to a half century ago.

African Greys live between 40-60 years on average, but there are many who have lived into their 70s and 80s. We only know the ones we know.
 
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RIP Koko


She lived with a companion Michael for years until his sudden death. He was taught sign language as well. He told his caregivers what happened to his mother when she was killed by poachers and he was stolen.

Link youtube video

Koko and Michael also lived with another gorilla, Ndume. After Michael's death, Koko and Ndume slept in Michael's bed and held his blankets.


Never say these are not intelligent sentient beings.
 
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Cobalt Jade

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I feel more sad about Koko than I did about Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade. What it says about me, I don't know.
 
cornflake

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regdog said:
RIP Koko


She lived with a companion Michael for years until his sudden death. He was taught sign language as well. He told his caregivers what happened to his mother when she was killed by poachers and he was stolen.

Link youtube video

Koko and Michael also lived with another gorilla, Ndume. After Michael's death, Koko and Ndume slept in Michael's bed and held his blankets.


Never say these are not intelligent sentient beings.
Click to expand...

I remember the first time I saw Michael talking about the poachers. I'm so not watching that again.

The people who think other animals are not as intelligent as humans just baffle me.

Many animals, representing a slew of different species, have learned to communicate with humans using human languages. Obviously dogs and tons of other animals understand human languages, but many have mastered languages well enough to engage in conversation, reciprocal language...

Yet humans, with all the computing power and technology at our fingertips, have yet to decode the language of a single other species well enough to even begin to converse on a basic level.

Who's intelligent, again? Alex spoke English. N'Kisi is f'ing sarcastic in English. We don't understand a word of parrot.
 

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Not going to put up with any more derails in a thread where people are grieving.
 

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cornflake said:
I remember the first time I saw Michael talking about the poachers. I'm so not watching that again.

The people who think other animals are not as intelligent as humans just baffle me.

Many animals, representing a slew of different species, have learned to communicate with humans using human languages. Obviously dogs and tons of other animals understand human languages, but many have mastered languages well enough to engage in conversation, reciprocal language...

Yet humans, with all the computing power and technology at our fingertips, have yet to decode the language of a single other species well enough to even begin to converse on a basic level.

Who's intelligent, again? Alex spoke English. N'Kisi is f'ing sarcastic in English. We don't understand a word of parrot.
Click to expand...

I think the reason humans haven't pushed harder to learn to communicate with animals is Michael's story. We know there are too many similar stories or worse. And we certainly don't want animals who can say "Let my people go!"
I remember Koko from the 'AllBall' stories in the National Geographic. It was heady stuff, that a non-domesticated animal could do more that sit in a cage and wait for feeding time. RIP Koko. I suspect that if there is a heaven, yours will be very different from ours.
 
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