Koko allegedly signed “tear” after she learned of Robin Williams’ death in 2014.
His performance made us chuckle, and we fell in love with his sense of humor. Robin Williams had achieved fame as an actor, but it was his humility that was most respected. Everyone in his presence felt it, and when he first saw Koko, the gorilla, he saw that it was true even for animals.
Koko had gained notoriety for mastering a form of American Sign Language (ASL) and communicating with her handlers in ways that few apes had before. Robin Williams was invited to meet and converse with her in 2001. And they clicked almost immediately.
The footage begins with Williams discussing his encounter with the gorilla. “I recently had a mind-blowing conversation with a gorilla. Koko is her name.”
Koko was mourning the death of her childhood buddy, Michael the gorilla, who had died six months previously at the time of the encounter. She hadn’t been keeping well, according to reports, until the meeting with Williams.
Robin Williams is seated in a chair in the video, waiting for Koko to enter. When the gorilla is brought into the room, she sits on the floor next to him and takes his hand. The actor rises from his seat and takes a seat next to her. The two are seen laughing and eyeing one other with interest.
“Notice that Robin made Koko grin – something she hadn’t done in more than six months, ever since her childhood gorilla partner, Michael, died at the age of 27,” Koko’s caretaker, Francine Patterson, told Today.
It was clear that the actor made the gorilla feel at ease right away. Koko even attempts to put on the actor’s spectacles. The gorilla went through his pockets and rifled through his money at one point.
“Robin’s ability to just ‘hang out’ with Koko, a gorilla, and become one of her best friends in minutes was astonishing and unforgettable,” Patterson wrote. “But Robin not only cheered up Koko; the impact was mutual, and Robin appeared transformed.”
The two’s relationship is lovely to behold. The actor felt the same way. “We had something unique in common: laughing. Koko understands spoken English and utilizes over 1,000 words to express herself about everyday happenings, life, love, and even death “He had stated.
Koko allegedly signed “tear” after she learned of Robin Williams’ death in 2014.
Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo and spent the most of her life in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where she was cared for by The Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, California.
Koko was nurtured and cared for by humans because she was born in a zoo. Francine Patterson, Koko’s caregiver, stated she possessed a vocabulary of roughly 1,000 syllables of Gorilla Sign Language, a modified form of ASL.
She also comprehended around 2,000 words of spoken English. Koko’s IQ was comparable to that of a 3-year-old human toddler, according to Patterson, who was also her educator.
Koko was exceptional for a variety of reasons. The ape was known to demonstrate empathy for other animals, enjoy a good dispute, and indulge in banter and insults! “Koko has made us, her human friends, aware not only that her breed is brilliant, but also that it shares sensitivity generally thought to be the province of people,” Patterson stated.
When National Geographic released a shot of Koko taking a portrait of herself in the mirror on the cover of their 1978 edition, she earned global notice.
Koko was also one of the only known apes to have a pet. Koko had chosen a gray kitten and named her All-ball back in the 1980s. “The cat was a Manx and looked like a ball,” said Ron Cohn, a foundation scientist. “Koko enjoys rhyming words in sign language.”
According to cheatsheeet, Koko reared All-ball as if he were her own child and spent an hour or more every day playing with him. But that wasn’t the end of it. When she took the sink from the wall, she also made the cat a scapegoat. “Koko often used the kitten as a scapegoat when she was naughty; one time, Koko ripped a steel sink from a wall, pointed at All Ball, and signed “cat did it,” according to a Popular Science piece on Koko.
One of the most remarkable photographs depicting a love between two animals is of Koko holding the young kitten.
Koko died in her sleep in 2018 at the age of 46, after enjoying a long life.