Mission:
To bring interspecies communication to the public, in order to save gorillas from extinction, and to inspire our children to create a sustainable future for all great apes.

Vision:
Conservation thru Communication

Profile: The Gorilla Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Founded in 1976 by Drs. Penny Patterson, Ron Cohn and Barbara Hiller (via a grant from the National Geographic Society), Project Koko has become one of the longest running interspecies communication studies in history, the only one involving gorillas.

While the Gorilla Foundation is perhaps best known for Koko, the gorilla who is fluent in sign language, it also taught the late male (silverback) gorilla, Michael, to use sign language, fostered both gorillas artistic abilities, and changed the world's perception of gorillas from that of "King Kong" to "Koko's Kitten."

The primary focus of the Gorilla Foundation now, is survival of the species - teaching conservation values around the world via the new Maui Ape Preserve — which depends upon your support for its completion. Currently located in Woodside, California, the Gorilla Foundation employees a bout 20 gorilla caregivers, researchers, educators and development staff - plus 2 fantastic gorillas: Koko and Ndume. It is anticipated that Koko and Ndume will mate and, through cultural transmission, give rise to the next generation of gorillas who can continue a dialogue with humans.

Background: Project Koko started in 1972 when Penny Patterson, then a graduate student studying developmental psychology at Stanford University, began exploring the potential of Koko, a one-year-old lowland gorilla, to learn American Sign Language. In 1976, Dr. Patterson and Dr. Ronald Cohn, who had also worked with the Project since its inception, established the Gorilla Foundation. Its purpose is to hold trust over Koko, protect her interests and assist in the study and preservation of gorillas in general. Shortly thereafter, the Foundation relocated from Stanford to its own land in Woodside, CA where it continues today.

From the beginning, Koko's ability to learn exceeded expectations. Over time, Koko has mastered over 1,000 signs, and has invented new signs and compound words (e.g., “eye hat” for mask). Without any training, she demonstrated extensive comprehension of spoken English. The Project has also demonstrated that great apes possess qualities that were previously considered exclusively human, such as abstract thought, feelings, sense of humor and imagination.

Through these insights, the Gorilla Foundation has revolutionized our understanding of gorillas and ourselves. Gorillas have come to be seen as they truly are – sensitive, caring and intelligent beings who have a conceptual grasp of language. The studies of language and behavioral observations also shed light on the many inescapable similarities between gorillas and their sibling species, Homo sapiens. Indeed, evidence has been found for the existence, in less developed form, of almost every aspect of human behavior.

Present:These pioneering discoveries inspired the Gorilla Foundation to broaden its outreach in the early 80's as it became increasingly apparent that gorillas and other great apes were becoming seriously endangered by logging and the illegal bushmeat trade. Spurred on by this realization, the Foundation intensified its outreach to educate the public about the true nature of gorillas, their close relationship to humans, and the crisis that they were facing.

Today, through our website www.koko.org, publications and educational curricula we deliver our vital message to children and adults around the world. And through our Wildlife Protectors program in central Africa, the gorillas’ homeland, we are using the classic book Koko’s Kitten and other powerful stories to increase awareness of our kinship with great apes.

Future: Looking to the future, we are establishing the first tropical gorilla sanctuary outside of Africa — the Maui Ape Preserve (MAP) — as a resource for welfare and conservation management of endangered primates. MAP will ensure that the Foundation’s programs in communication research, education and welfare will expand and continue as a unique and irreplaceable resource for the international scientific and conservation community. Our message, through Koko’s ambassadorship, will help create the political will needed to save the great apes from extinction.