10 Weirdly Human Animal Behaviours

1. Koko The Gorilla Can Speak To Humans

Hanabiko, or Koko to her friends, is a female gorilla who is wholly remarkable in almost every way.

Koko is not an ordinary gorilla, because Koko can speak sign language.

Her trainer, Penny Patterson, has reportedly been able to teach her over 1,000 signs in a modified ASL, and it is claimed that Kok can also understand around 2,000 words of spoken English.

The ability to communicate meaningfully with Koko has opened up a whole world of insight into the mind of a gorilla. Koko has shown a fairly astonishing level of cognition, and is able to communicate her feelings, and emotions as well as her wants and needs. She doesn't used grammar or syntax and it is estimated that her language levels are around that of a human toddler.

She is also thought to be one of the only non-humans to own a pet. Koko absolutely loves kittens and plays gently with them as though they were her babies. Koko named her first kitten (that she had specifically requested for Christmas) All Ball. When All Ball was killed by a car, Koko signed "Bad, sad, bad" and "Frown, cry, frown, sad" upon hearing the news and cried. She has had many kittens since, all of which she has named herself.

One day, Koko had managed to rip a sink off the wall and, when asked what happened, said "the cat did it". This demonstrates her ability to lie, but that she was unable to see that her keepers would know that she was lying.

Koko has always wanted a baby, often telling Penny of her dream to be a mother but, despite many attempts, Koko ha never been able to successfully mate. The kittens will have to do for now.

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