Dear Friend,

World Gorilla Day prompted me to share the above video with you, which we created as part of our KokoArc program, featuring young Koko learning her first signs — and the innate ability of all gorillas to communicate with gestures.

You will see Koko as an infant learning American Sign Language (ASL) signs within the first few days of being taught — using two techniques: molding and modeling.

Koko used some natural (untaught) gestures such as Up, Come and Go when the project began. I believe this innate ability to use and understand gestures is what allowed Koko’s eventual acquisition of over 1000 signs and the ingenuity to create some of her own.

Throughout Project Koko, we have learned that all gorillas have the ability to communicate. At the beginning, I was surprised at the speed and ease that Koko learned.

Like all young gorillas, Koko was curious and loved to play. I realized that just as a human child would learn, Koko should be immersed in language, so I made it a part of all aspects of Koko's life. Koko was taught ASL along with spoken English. My advisor, Dr. Karl Pribram, and I chose the signs Food/Eat, Drink and More as the first ones for Koko to learn.

Early in the video, Koko is about 2 years old, and she is signing “More” for her next spoonful. I used techniques known as molding and modeling. The molding technique involved forming Koko’s hands into the correct sign.

For modeling, I performed the sign while Koko's attention was focused on me. I would perform the action or show the item while teaching Koko a new sign, or demonstrate its use with the help of another caregiver.

In one clip I wait for Koko to use the appropriate sign before giving her a drink. Koko initially signs “Food" as she wants to take a sip from the cup. I make sure to wait for Koko to make the “Drink” sign before handing her the cup.

Koko learned the first three signs quickly, Food/Eat, Drink and More, and went on to learn over 1000 different signs in addition to understanding spoken English.

Koko used untaught (natural) gestures from the very beginning.

She would indicate she wanted to be picked up with an upward outstretched arms gesture. It is now known that gorillas, captive and free-living, have a repertoire of over 100 (and counting) unique gestures that they combine to communicate with each other, in addition to vocalizations.

And her 3-years-younger companion, Michael, followed a similar learning curve, accumulating over 400 signs of ASL, and many of the same natural gestures as Koko. Koko was not special in this regard.

Thus, all gorillas are Kokos and have the same communication abilities she demonstrated. On this World Gorilla Day we must commit to ensure gorillas have a future.

Please join us in sharing their intelligence and creating empathy for gorillas everywhere.

They need our help both in captivity and in the wild!

Captive settings could be dramatically improved and made more like sanctuaries (via increased autonomy, more time outdoors in natural settings, and remote video monitoring).

And the threat of extinction in their native African homeland (via habitat destruction and poaching) could be prevented if more people knew that all gorillas were like Koko and Michael — with complex thoughts and feelings, much like ours, and with the ability to express them in ways that we clearly understand.

You can help.

Your support will enable us to continue and to scale our key programs — KokoArc (preserving and mining our 5-decade multimedia data archive), KokoApp (learn sign language from Koko), KokoCares (designing sanctuary settings for for captive gorillas), and Kids4Koko (mobilizing kids to become voices for Nature).

These programs are designed to make Conservation through Communication a reality.

We are building momentum every day, as we digitize, analyze, and share videos like the one presented here, but we need your help to reach a critical mass of people and make a sustainable difference in the lives of great apes.

Please donate now ...

If you've already contributed to our mission before, you know that we don't ask as often as many other nonprofits — about once every quarter, which is necessary for us to keep the progress going.

Alternatively, if you'd rather not respond to a quarterly ask, you can always become a recurring (monthly) donor, via our APE (Automatic Pledge Enrollment) membership program. Either way, just click the donate button or link, and select whichever option (amount and frequency — one-time or monthly) is appropriate for you.

Sincere appreciation for all you've done and all you're about to do so that gorillas, humans and Nature can survive and thrive together.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

The Gorilla Foundation     PO Box 620530,  Woodside, CA  94062
1-800-ME-GO-APE     [email protected]
The Gorilla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Federal Tax ID: 942.38.6151