Introduction and Setting

• Live podcast recording at Castro Theater, San Francisco
• Hosts: Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant (Jerry absent)
• Audience interaction with "chucker sign" from crowd
• Discussion of being "children of the 70s and 80s"
• Context: Every kid knew about Coco the talking gorilla

Coco's Early Life and Background

• Born July 4, 1971 at San Francisco Zoo (6.1 miles from theater)
• Birth name: Hanabiko ("fireworks child" in Japanese)
• Western lowland gorilla - critically endangered subspecies
• Difficult infancy: mother couldn't produce enough milk
• At 6 months: developed dysentery, nearly died
• Removed from family unit for human care around the clock
• Problem: couldn't return to family after recovery due to human bonding

Dr. Penny Patterson and Project Coco

• 24-year-old Stanford grad student Francine "Penny" Patterson
• Took control of Coco's care for PhD research
• Goal: teach gorillas sign language to understand language acquisition
• Compare gorilla vs human language development
• Trace evolutionary history of human language development
• Moved from San Francisco Zoo to Stanford University
• Later established Gorilla Foundation with 6-acre private facility
• Coco lived in retrofitted mobile home with nest of blankets, tire, toys, TV

Language Learning Methods and Progress

• Two teaching techniques:
  • Molding: physically shaping Coco's hands into signs
  • Imitation: demonstrating signs for Coco to copy
• First signs learned (within 2 weeks): food, drink, more
• Language growth spurts: ~200 new words per year in first 4.5 years
• Acquired language 8 months behind human child development
• Same rate as deaf child her age (despite starting later)
• Final vocabulary: 600 working signs, 400 spontaneous signs (1000 total)
• Could understand 2000 English words
• Dr. Patterson received PhD from Stanford (1979)

Coco's Cognitive Abilities

• Demonstrated humor: red lint joke with white towel
• Showed ability to lie: blamed caregiver Kate for broken sink
• Created new sign combinations:
  • Mask = "eye hat"
  • Zebra = "white tiger"
  • Ring = "finger bracelet"
  • Pinocchio doll = "elephant baby"
• Insult vocabulary: bird, nut, rotten stink, dirty toilet, dirty devil
• Generally sweet-natured gorilla despite ability to insult

Michael the Gorilla

• Male gorilla brought in 1976 to expand foundation
• Also learned American Sign Language (not as well as Coco)
• Both were "enculturated" (raised as humans)
• Enjoyed Pavarotti and painting
• Key finding: Coco and Michael signed to each other unprompted
• Taught each other signs humans hadn't taught them
• Developed independent communication system

Celebrity Status and Media Appearances

• 1978: First National Geographic cover - Coco's self-portrait with camera
• 1985: Second National Geographic cover with kitten
• World fell in love with gorilla-kitten relationship
• Celebrity visitors included:
  • William Shatner (touched his genitals during visit)
  • Fred Rogers (Coco removed his shoes, cradled him like baby)
  • Flea and Sting (let Coco play their bass guitars)
  • Peter Gabriel
  • Betty White (board member of Gorilla Foundation)
  • Leo DiCaprio
  • Robin Williams (2001) - most memorable visit, tickle fighting, rolling around

Coco's Kittens

• Coco loved cats, wanted real kitten
• Given realistic stuffed kitten first (rejected as fake)
• Selected tabby Manx kitten from litter
• Named kitten "All Ball" (Manx cats have no tails)
• All Ball had been abandoned, nursed by Cairn Terrier for 4.5 weeks
• Tragedy: All Ball hit by car and killed
• Coco's grief response: turned away, ignored news, then whimpering
• Eventually signed "sleep cat"
• Later had more kittens: Lipstick, Smoky, Miss Black, Miss Gray

Environmental Ambassador Role

• Became ambassador for Earth during 1980s green movement
• Perfect timing with growing Earth Day awareness
• Merchandising: Coco's Kitten book, stuffed gorillas, painting prints
• Coco's bird painting recognizable as actual bird
• Both Coco and Michael painted and sold art prints

Robin Williams Visit Impact

• 2001 visit - most natural, playful interaction
• Williams not scared/intimidated like other celebrities
• Genuine play session, tickle fighting, glasses exchange
• Coco indicated desire to mate with Williams
• When Williams died (2014), Coco signed "woman crying"
• Remarkable emotional connection despite single meeting 13 years prior

The Ape Language Wars

• Scientific community divided on legitimacy of ape language research
• Context: Part of broader ape language experiments since 1940s
• Earlier experiments:
  • Vicki the chimp (1940s): learned 4 spoken words (mama, papa, cup)
  • Washoe the chimp (1967): first successful sign language experiment
  • Project Nim (Columbia, mid-70s): named "Nim Chimpsky" after Noam Chomsky

Scientific Controversy and Criticism

• Herb Terrace: initially supporter, became major critic (1981)
• Claimed apes just mimicking for rewards, not using true language
• Accused researchers of inadvertent prompting/cueing
• Distinction: words vs. language (pointing at pie vs. describing how to make pie)
• Split field into believers vs. skeptics
• Central issue: anthropomorphism - projecting human traits onto animals

Research Methodology Challenges

• Researchers adapted to avoid criticism:
  • Sue Savage-Rumbaugh wore welding masks to hide facial expressions
  • Developed lexicon boards to avoid sign language prompting
  • Kanzi the bonobo: learned without direct teaching, taught mother Matata
• Video editing controversies: selective editing could misrepresent abilities
• Dr. Patterson's language: claimed Coco "mastered" sign language (overstated)

1998 AOL Internet Chat

• First interspecies internet chat hosted by America Online
• Setup: AOL moderator relayed questions to Penny, who signed to Coco
• Coco's response when setup explained: "nipple"
• Liberal translation interpretations by Dr. Patterson
• Example: Coco covered eyes = "unattention, doesn't see it happening"
• Demonstrated gap between observed behavior and interpreted meaning

Current Scientific Consensus

• Ape language research largely dried up since 1980s
• Ethical concerns about removing apes from families, human dependency
• Scientific community acknowledges apes can use sign language and communicate
• 2017 breakthrough: apes passed theory of mind tests designed for human infants
• Shift toward studying natural gorilla communication vs. teaching human language
• Field still developing with new insights into ape cognition

Controversies and Legal Issues

• Nipple fetish: Coco obsessed with seeing nipples
• Dr. Patterson showed Coco her nipples, requested same from employees
• Former female employees sued over uncomfortable requests
• Case settled out of court, details undisclosed
• Dr. Patterson distanced from scientific community, focused on public outreach

Coco's Later Life and Legacy

• Dr. Patterson's biggest regret: Coco never had baby
• Coco frequently expressed desire for offspring
• Michael unsuitable mate due to incest taboo (raised together from young age)
• Ndume brought in 1991 but no offspring produced
• Coco died June 19, 2018, age 46, in her sleep
• World mourned her death extensively

Scientific and Cultural Impact

• 2014 gorilla expert symposium: half of attendees inspired by Coco to enter field
• Transformed public view of gorillas from scary/stupid to intelligent/emotional
• Charles Wesley Hume quote: "Animals must have benefit of the doubt"
• Pushed people toward believing animals have subjective inner experiences
• Media coverage at death used terms like "master of sign language"
• Skeptics' corrections were "drop in ocean" compared to positive coverage
• Ultimate legacy: world wants to believe animals have more than we can prove