Koko the gorilla

[frogmarch]

[Skittles]

1. I heard she was a backseat driver too

[Hugh_Lebowski]

11. Think I seen her pick her nose a couple times in documentaries, too

Didn't even try to hide it.

And don't even get me started about her jaywalking

[wnylib]

2. I loved articles and stories about Koko.

She was amusing and smart.

[betsuni]

3. This is a good one:

http://:

[rampartc]

4. you had me mildly outraged with that one

good thing i finally noticed the logo.

koko, by the way, did experience the death of her friend michael and had some interesting thoughts on death. these are not stupid animals.

[betsuni]

5. So? No-one said they were stupid animals. Where did you get that from?

Humans are stupid animals.

[Jade Fox]

8. Humans are stupid animals?

Does that include you, or are you the one great exception?

Good luck with that self hate.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

9. Y'all taking this satire way too seriously (nt)

[Jade Fox]

10. Whoops. I missed that Onion logo.....nt

[Jade Fox]

7. What was the point here?

Spending an enormous amount of time teaching a gorilla that he will die seems pointlessly cruel.

[wnylib]

13. It is satire. Look at the Onion logo

in the lower right hand corner.

Nobody actually did this. It is farce.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Koko the gorilla's last message to humanity

This is hard to watch

Link to tweet

[XanaDUer2]

12. Precious! Nt

[wnylib]

14. I read a National Geographic article about

Koko and Mike. Koko had mastered sign language, but Mike started later than her and was still learning. They were kept in separate enclosures during separate lessons. After lessons, they were usually allowed to visit with each other.

Before getting to see Koko, Mike had to accurately request the visit, which was supposed to be incentive for him to learn. He had to repeat his request a few times to get it right. Koko was waiting in her enclosure and could see Mike. Her trainer said that Koko got impatient and started signing, "Hurry up stupid Mike."

Mike talked about seeing his mother killed.

https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa12/2012/09/21/gorilla-tells-a-story-of-his-mothers-death/

[frogmarch]

15. That is sad about Mike

having seen his mother killed.

I love the Koko story you told about her waiting for "stupid Mike." I read a Koko story about a time when a trainer or someone playfully teased her, and she signed "You green shit" at him.

[wnylib]

16. Yes, from what I read, Koko liked to

use "potty words" as insults when she was mad. Not so different from humans after all. We call people turds and pieces of shit, don't we? And most children go through a phase of loving "potty humor" involving jokes about bathroom functions. Some never outgrow it

The significant things about Mike's story about his mother are that the story indicated his capacity for sorrow and loss, his ability to remember, and his ability to recognize the difference between past and present.