While Koko’s communication skills are amazing, the message she conveys in the video isn’t entirely her own – she was reportedly given a ‘script’ to read for the cameras, and the video has been edited to make her speech a little more fluid.
source/image: Noé ONG
Koko, the 44-year-old gorilla who is capable of communicating with humans via sign language, has appeared in a video urging humans to protect the environment./independent
She begins by saying: “I am gorilla. I am flowers, animals. I am nature.””Man Koko love. Earth Koko love. But man stupid.””Koko sorry. Koko cry. Time hurry. Fix Earth! Help Earth! Hurry.”
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The Gorilla Foundation, which looks after Koko, explained the creation of the video: “Koko was clear about the man message: Man is harming the Earth and its many animal and plant species and needs to ‘hurry’ and fix the problem.”
Koko, the gorilla, was taught more than 1,000 signs in Gorilla sign language and the gorilla could recognize more than 2,000 words of English. Koko lives at the Gorilla Foundation in California in the Santa Cruz Mountains in her trailer that has been specially equipped with access to outdoor play areas./disclose
