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This site provides information about the gorilla Koko and about gorilla intelligence in general. "Koko, a female lowland gorilla born in 1971, and Michael, a male lowland gorilla born in 1973, use sign language and understand spoken English. Koko's participation in this study began when she was one year old, and Michael's at the age of three and one-half. Their intellectual, physical, and linguistic development has been studied extensively since their infancy. Before Project Koko, very little was known about gorilla intelligence." "The study of gorilla language acquisition sheds light on the vital connection between gorillas and their sibling species, homo sapiens. Project Koko has contributed to the study of the evolution and development of human communication and suggests a gestural origin of human language."

Disciplines:

• Science and Technology  / Biology  / Ecology and Conservation Biology

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