Friends for FORTY years: Never-before-seen
They have spent more than 40 years building an inseparable bond since meeting at a zoo in San Francisco in 1971.
And
now never before seen pictures have been released showing how graduate
student Penny Patterson from Illinois struck up a remarkable bond with
gorilla Koko, teaching her how to communicate.
The pictures and footage form part of a brand new BBC documentary being screened later this month, exploring how they came to form the world's longest ape-language study.
The clips
and images were taken by Dr Ron Cohn, who filmed more than 2,000 hours
of footage showing how Ms Patterson and 300-pound Koko formed their
incredible relationship.
And
the never-before-seen archive spans the 44 years since the pair met and
how despite being 70-years-old, Ms Patterson still cares for the
gorilla like her own child.
When Ms
Paterson first met a newborn Koko at the San Francisco Zoo, she started
an experiment to see if she could teach the gorilla sign language.
The animal then began to master hundreds of signs, and could communicate her thoughts to her keeper.
She also
often signs the word ‘baby’, carries gorilla dolls in her arms, and even
pretends that her dolls can sign by moving their arms and hands.
But
Ms Patterson's early relationship with Koko faced numerous obstacles
when the zoo where the gorilla was born tried to reclaim the animal.
In
addition, the university where Ms Paterson gained her PhD ejected her
and there was skepticism from parts of the scientific community about
the validity of her claims.
But
as their bond grew, the pair's relationship became more well known with
them striking up an unusual friendship with the late actor Robin
Williams.
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