A Conversation With Koko

Who is that? [thank] me there, okay. That is you gorilla animal Coco Love Okay, that's pretty good [that] [is] you you are a? lovely animal When penny Patterson and Coco a western lowland gorilla met nearly [30] years ago neither had any idea they would become friends for life in The long history of Human animal relationships their story is one of the most fascinating It is the true tale of a young woman and a gentle giant Walking hand in hand into a whole new world of understanding They couldn't have known that their intimate friendship would shatter Century-Old stereotypes and change forever our outlook of both gorillas and ourselves Penny describes her friend with gentle honesty and affection Coco's about five feet tall she weighs Roughly 300 pounds a little heavy for a female the average is 250 She's a big female gorilla Coco has a very strong sense of self she Feels she's important. She's got a strong ego She's playful very can be very silly I spin a quick a really quick Spin, and then once you're good and dizzy [Soon-Ja] she's Got a good sense of humor. Oh, no a Monster a monster coming together yeah, like a turd She can be very stubborn very willful finish you are finished You are not finished You didn't do the work. [I] asked please pick those up coco. You are very good at that Their relationship is like no other penny and coco are the first human and gorilla to share a common language? Penny taught Coco to speak sign language with them after you help Okay No, not fake no their exchanges their conversations were enchanting and Quickly revealed the power language has to build a bridge between our species Then you go, and you bring those papers You did he was missing [you] when I look into Coco's eyes and other people have said this that their their change forever that there's an exchange of intellect and emotion that that We get with another person Coco's looking peering into your eyes and questioning you and asking you and getting information from you drawing you out She can do that because she has sign language by teaching Coco a language humans can understand Penny Arm Coco with a powerful tool that allowed her to speak as an ambassador on behalf of her endangered species Astonishingly [Koco] is willing to provide us a window into her life her mind and her heart Who could have imagined that a gorilla could fall in love with a kitten search for a mate and yearn to be a mother? She has challenged us to [acknowledge] that we share this world with other intelligent animals There is very little difference genetically It's what [2] percent something like that when I tell people that we have the same number of hairs per square inch as great apes They don't know that's impossible, or that we have the same blood types. [oh] come on You know that's not right, but it's all true

Channel: Beth Gallagher

Views: 22,347,933

Keywords: PBS Nature Series, History, Biography

Id: SNuZ4OE6vCk

Length: 4min 41sec (281 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2013