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I came across an article in the English Sunday Times a week ago, which casts a fascinating sidelight on language acquisition, and our own status as naked apes (including that vital sense of humour): Koko is the first gorilla to have been taught sign language. With a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words and an IQ of 80, she is the first to prove we share a world with other intelligent beings who feel emotions, look forward to Christmas and also have a sense of humour.
The 30-year study of Koko has redefined science’s concept of gorilla intelligence. Genetically, there is only a 2% difference between gorillas and humans: we share the same blood type, have the same number of hairs per square inch and also the same temperament, according to scientists. But what had gone unrecognised by the scientific community was that gorillas also have the ability to learn a language and have complex emotions. […]
Koko lives in the Santa Cruz mountains, in a wooded spot overlooking Silicon Valley. She has her own caravan, with a nest of blankets, which is her bed, in one corner; and a potty, which she has been trained to use, in another. She has a barrel upon which she likes to sit when talking to humans – gorillas feel more secure when they can look down on others – while her toys are strewn everywhere. In addition she has an outside enclosure where she spends her days when it is not raining. But although Koko signs “Cold bad, Gorilla hate,” and “Visitor good”, it is her conversations with Dr Penny Patterson that are inspiring.
“The overriding reality of my discovery is that our abilities as humans, our skills, sensibilities and emotions are almost identical to the great apes. The separation between humans and everything else on the planet is artificial,” she explains. “We are naked apes. They’re just like us inside. I am shocked every day by Koko’s understanding and her capabilities. What we have learnt is that gorillas are more complex than we ever imagined.”
Patterson was a psychology student when Koko was born in San Francisco Zoo in 1971. Language studies had been made using chimpanzees before, but never with a gorilla. “My initial expectation was that I’d work with Koko for four years,” she says. “But after a few evenings together I couldn’t put her down. I ended up staying with her until she’d fall asleep.”… When she started teaching Koko the sign language that deaf-mute people use, forcing the little fingers of the one-year old gorilla into the correct positions for “drink, “eat”, “more” and rewarding her with food, she had no idea how quickly Koko would pick it up.
“At first it seemed Koko was using it as a tool to get something,” says Patterson. “It became the kind of reward system you could expect of a cat or dog. But early on she began to combine signs – that made me think she was capable of more.” Now Koko is so proficient in sign language that if she doesn’t know a word, she invents one. For example, she didn’t know the word for ‘ring’, so she combined the word for “finger” and “bracelet” to express it.
One of Patterson’s favourite stories demonstrates Koko’s sense of humour. When a visitor asked her to show him something scary, she held up a mirror to his face. […] When Patterson asked her what she would like for her 11th birthday, Koko signed she wanted a cat. The story of Koko’s kitten enabled Patterson to learn more about her charge: the kitten was hit by a car and Patterson had to break the news to Koko, who signed “Cry, sad, frown”. Then, once alone, Patterson heard her make the gorilla’s distress call – “It showed us another level of the intelligence of non-human animals,” says Patterson. “Because she could talk about it, she was able to express her grief. Even now, 15 years later, she will still sign ‘Sad frown’ if she sees a kitten.”
Patterson describes Koko’s personality as wilful and stubborn: “She loves babies and young people. She likes feminine things like brushes, lipsticks, scarves and jewellery…” Patterson now wants Koko to conceive. “Koko wants babies badly,” she says. “She tells me so.” Patterson wants to see if Koko teaches her young the same sign language that she uses. But all mating efforts have been unsuccessful. […] Ndume, who Koko chose herself by kissing the television screen showing video footage of gorilla bachelors, has been introduced to her. But Patterson suspects Koko lacks sexual confidence and needs other females around her for encouragement, as in the wild. […] I asked Koko if she is looking forward to moving to Hawaii, where Patterson is raising money to build a gorilla refuge. Koko signed “yes”, but only if she has curtains…
Donations for the Gorilla Preserve can be sent to The Gorilla Foundation, box 620530, Woodside CA95062.© The Sunday Times, London This is more about the preserve from the web: The Gorilla Foundation is constructing a unique gorilla preserve on west Maui, Hawaii. The Maui Preserve is the foundation's highest priority project, as it will not only provide a much more natural setting for Koko and other gorillas, it also represents a vital step toward saving the species from imminent extinction. The Preserve will consist of a secluded Sanctuary on 70 acres of donated land, and a high-tech (or virtual) Visitor Center to be located in the busy tourist town of Lahaina.For more info, try http://www.koko.org
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mav, that is lovely.
I recall reading some years ago of a gentleman, born deaf-mute, how interviewed Koko, via signing of course ... and suddenly came to the realization that he was proessing the conversation with her quite differently than with a speaking adult: he decribed it as feeling that he was talking with her in his "native language".
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Oh the things you learn on this board!
Thank you Mav ... copied and pasted it to a letter for my-son-the-Major and his Lady, who live on Maui ... now I have two good reasons to visit them !
Thanks again Mav!
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From Anna's language acquisition thread that Faldage brought back up:
There, Sparteye brings up one Dr Tsunoda's research on the brain. He's quoted as saying, "I believe that the mother tongue differenciates the way in which people receive, process, feel, and understand sounds in the external environment.... The mother tongue is closely related to the development of the emotional mechanism in the brain. I conjecture that the mother tongue acquired in childhood is closely linked with the formation of the unique culture and mentality of each ethnic group."
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Humans have four distinct blood types--O, A, B, and AB. I doubt seriously that gorillas possess these same four as indicated in the article. The sharing of blood type there, I suspect, could be type O.
Does anyone have more information abou the specific blood type of gorillas?
Swinging from a star and eating a banana,
OrB
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Oh, yes..... one more thing on the subject of evolution. Many published studies over recent years have shown that chimpanzees mostly have Blood type A, almost no Blood type O, but never Blood type B. The other great ape, the gorilla has Blood type B, almost no Blood type O, but never Blood type A. In these 'man-apes' species, said to be the ancestors of man, there is NO Blood type AB in either. Generally speaking, man has both Blood types A and B, and Blood type AB. Blood type O, in man is by far the most common in virtually every racial group.
http://www.bloodbook.com/type-facts.html
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chimpanzees mostly have Blood type A
Oooh, ooh, ooooh! I'm a chimpanzee! Makes me glad I used them as my role models when I played the title role in the silent movie Tarzan.
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Dear Mav--
Thanks for the blood type information.
Now another query: The correct way of writing blood types, I take it from your quoted text is:
Capital "B" in "Blood"--lower case "t" in "type"--and then a capital letter for the type itself?
Gorilla in space, I,
OrB (all Blood type B here)
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Is there a doctor in the house? Comforted or Billed, I am sure they will know far better than a maverick 
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The correct way of writing blood types
Quick perusal of the site shows they capitalize Blood throughout. Other sites do not follow this convention. Inclusion of the statement "In these 'man-apes' species, said to be the ancestors of man..." makes me think that this is not the best site for accurate information.
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I'm no longer able to talk intelligently about blood types. But I still remember how exciting it was in early forties to learn that blood types were not limited to O, A, B, and AB. The occurrence of severe reactions to carefully typed blood in patients who had previously been transfused led to the discovery of still one more subtype, which was called Rh, from studies on rhesus monkeys.
There are many URLs about blood types, but I did not think any of them worth citing here.
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http://www.webmd.com Type blood type in search box and up come pages and pages and pages of info on blood ... but I stopped on page three and didn't find anything on blood types ... ???
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In know you can be either Rh positive or negative. For example I am B + (that is how they write it in my medical files)
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B + (that is how they write it in my medical files)You sure that wasn't just good advice bel? ~ "Take the painkillers and continue to B+!" 
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Its the people with a minus that used to get into trouble. If given improperly matched transfusion, they can develop antibodies against the Rh factor, and if the mistake is repeated, they can have very serious reaction.
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Koko is the first gorilla to have been taught sign language. With a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words and an IQ of 80, she is the first to prove we share a world with other intelligent beings who feel emotions, look forward to Christmas...
Rot! I can love a gorilla with the best of them, But Koko is a con man or con gorilla if you prefer. ... Koko signs “Cold bad, Gorilla hate,” and “Visitor good”, She wants to move to Hawaii and take her american friend, Patty Patterson, with her. (well I can Imagine).
Much money and effort should be used NOW to insure the continuance of gorillas in the wild and not channeled towards a cute, feel-good, Hawaiian circus.
I asked Koko if she is looking forward to moving to Hawaii, where Patterson is raising money to build a gorilla refuge. Koko signed “yes”, but only if she has curtains…
Donations for the Gorilla Preserve can be sent to The Gorilla Foundation, box 620530, Woodside CA95062.
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I'm thinking of setting up a trust to preserve the dwindling numbers of Milum in the wild. Anyone care to contribute?
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Sorry, I can only be supportive of a truss fund.
TEd
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Sorry, I can only be supportive of a truss fund.
Mmmm, truss you!
Milum, while I applaud your desire to see gorillas living and flourishing in their natural habit, at this point in history the other wild animals in their patch are wearing their best Sunday-go-to-meeting cammo suits and are using their finest-kind Russian army-surplus AK47s for the purpose, amongst others, of securing "bush-meat" so that they can carry on doing something gorillas don't, which is to kill each other on the wholesale plan. And bush-meat is often gorillas for guerillas.
As for Koko, well, if you offered me the choice between an all-expenses paid long-term holiday in Hawaii and a likely-to-be-short and not particularly well-catered existence in Rwanda, I b'lieve I'm with the gorilla. And of course you'd take your friends ...
As for her IQ of 80, her 1,000-word vocabulary and general good manners, why I'd love to employ her. It would make a pleasant change.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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As I understand it, blood types A and B denote the presence of the A and B factor respectively; type AB denotes the presence of each; and type O the absence of each.
A transfusion-recipient will have adverse reaction to any received blood that contain a factor not in his/her own blood, a "strange" factor if you wille Thus types A and AB cannot be given to a person of type B or O; and types B and AB cannot be given to one of type A or O; and blood-type O is the "universal donor".
Rh+ and Rh- denote the presence or absence of the Rh factor, particularly important in pregnancy. When an Rh- woman (such as my wife) delivers an Rh+ baby, any cross-flow of Rh+ blood from baby to mother may cause her body to develop antibodies to Rh+, and in any furture pregnancy those antibodies could severely attack a future Rh+ fetus she may carry. Thus, it is routine for an Rh+ woman, immediately after delivery, to be given treatment to suppress the development of those antibodies. Routine -- but my wife's experience is that she has had to remind the hospital personnel.
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Thus, it is routine for an Rh+ woman, immediately after delivery, to be given treatment to suppress the development of those antibodies.
The treatment given to the woman during her pregnancy and after the delivery is a drug that is derived from Rh negative, human blood that is treated with Rh positive blood cells. I have been part of a program for the last three years. I have A negative blood and have been regularly injected under controlled circumstances, with Rh positive blood cells. Now that my blood has created the antibody, I give platelet donations that are used to create the drug that is used.
Its the people with a minus that used to get into trouble. If given improperly matched transfusion, they can develop antibodies against the Rh factor, and if the mistake is repeated, they can have very serious reaction.
And the amount of blood cells I have received to create this antibody is not equal to the amount of a transfussion. Although it has been given over an extended period of time.
And as an aside, I am A neg blood, but both my children were positive, so I was given this very same drug during my pregnancy and after delivery.
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I'm thinking of setting up a trust to preserve the dwindling numbers of Milum in the wild. Anyone care to contribute? Yeeaah! Now I get it. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid me. This thread is not about gorillas, this thread is about clever wit. Yeah, kinda like Nero making up poems while Rome burned. Here's one... A gorilla in a cage Is not a gorilla Dian fossey is a bitch and Nero is effete.
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