The Significance of Interspecies Communication Essay -- Exploratory Es

The Significance of Interspecies Communication "Koko is the kind of daughter who, even at 32 likes to settle into her mom's lap and cuddle. Never mind that she is 300 pounds" (Adams 1999). When Koko, a baby gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo, was adopted by her mother, Dr. Francine "Penny" Patterson, she was suffering from malnutrition. Koko, one of the most recognized gorillas in the world, is able to communicate with humans through American Sign Language or Ameslan, the hand of the deaf, used by an estimated 200,000 deaf Americans (Patterson 1978). Koko is famous for her ability to communicate with humans and her active role in saving her endangered species. Patterson inherited an interest in psychology from her father who was an educational psychology professor at the University of Illinois. In 1970, Patterson earned her undergraduate degree in developmental psychology from the University of Illinois, after discovering that she was far more interested in the make up of the animal brain. She later attended Stanford University, where she first encountered a chimpanzee using sign language to communicate with humans (Adams 1999). Soon after that, she became fascinated with Koko and the possibility of working with her in the same manner as the chimpanzees in the video. . The name Hanabi-Ko, which is Japanese for "Fireworks Child," was given to the gorilla, because of her Fourth of July birthday and Koko became her nickname (Patterson 1978). In 1972, when Dr. Patterson first visited Koko in the San Francisco Zoo, Koko was a three month-old lowland gorilla playing with her mother. After nine months, Dr. Patterson finally convinced the zoo director to let her teach Koko sign language. On her first visit, "Patterson greeted ... ...rch 9, 2004, From Educational Broadcasting Corporation Web site: www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/koko/print/newhome.html Linden, E. (1986). Silent partners. New York: Times Books. Pp.115- 129. Patterson, Francine. (1978). Conversations with a gorilla. National Geographic, Vol. 154. No. 4, 438-465 Robinson, Peter. (1999). Koko and me. Forbes, ASAP, Vol. 164 Issue eight, p81,1p Schneider, Elaine Ernst. (2001). American sign language (ASL) vs. signed english (SE). Retrieved March 8, 2004, From Lesson Tutor. Web site: http://www.lessontutor.com/eesASLIntro.html Spilky, Scott. (2002). The caretaker. Retrieved March 13, 2004, From The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Web site:www.las.uiuc.edu/alumni/spotlight/03fall_patterson.html Trask, Larry. (1998). Koko the talking gorilla. Retrieved March 8, 2004, Web site: larryt@cogs.susx.ac.uk