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Koko : Queen Of The Apes ...
Surprise, surprise.
Today is a special Sunday.
What's the betting that when you first saw the picture shown above you thought we were set to slide straight into some sort of sarcasm?
Another politician to be pilloried perhaps?
'Fraid not friends. Today we're giving politics a pass.
Instead, we want to share one of the most extraordinary stories we ever set eyes on.
The amazing animal above is called Koko. She's a mature 35 year old, 22 stone, lowland gorilla.
And surprise, surprise -- she speaks.
Can you say 'awesome ape'?
Prepare to have your mind blown -- in the nicest possible way.
My friend Koko ~~ the 22-stone gorilla.
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posted by Richard at Sunday, March 25, 2007
9 Comments:
Amazing - moving too.
If only all humans were as smart.
While I agree it's amazing I'm not sure it's a good idea.
Bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "monkey business" dontcha think? :-)
I was aware that gorillas were intelligent and peaceful, but not quite their social skills, as it depicted in the article. I only knew, that they live in a hierarchical tribal system in the jungle. It looks like there is much more to them, than a few cold-hearted scientific words were able to describe.
Personaly I'm overawed. I for example, would love to have a girlfriend, who would be able to defend me, from six bad men. :-) But now, I may entering 'dangerous waters'.
Seriously, she is so sensitive and considerate, it is breathtaking in its significance, if only we would be ready to accept her as a Being, and demolish that artificial barrier, which Humanity built around itself from its own arrogance.
As an afterthought, I wonder why she doesn't live with a male silverback together? Even with all the little scrapes and bickerings, what a male-female relationship would bring unavoidably, it still would seem to be a happier existence for her, than the present, without a mature company of her own species. The other thing, I know about them, that they form life-long relationships, if not quite monogamous for the males. (Another thing, where they are smarter than us.)
Now we'll have to come up with an alternative to "smirking chimp" and similar names for GWB. After reading that I no longer see George's nick-name as an insulting one.
There's a wonderful video of Koko and Mr. Rogers meeting. She inquired about his cufflinks - she thought they were flowers because of their shape - and taught him how to sign "love" and held him in her arms.
http://www.koko.org/index.php
http://www.koko.org/world/kokotv.html (there are lots of videos...you need quicktime to view them and have to click on the little icons beside the words to get them to start)
P.S. Right up there with the great apes in intelligence is the elephant. They are my personal favourite :) Two (genuine) sanctuaries doing amazing work rescuing and caring for these spectacularly clever and beautiful mammals are:
http://www.elephants.com
http://www.pawsark.org/
Both sanctuaries have cams and the elephants can be watched live.
I guess with an IQ between 70 and 90 I guess she is too smart to be a Bush supporter.
and, she is not a chimp. Ergo, "smirkingchimp" is safe. And I am not belittling chimps .........
Speaking as a Gaelic Gorilla I have to say I completely disagree with anonoymous - It's an excellent idea.
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