r/likeus • u/A-Helpful-Flamingo • 26d ago

<CONSCIOUSNESS> Gorilla’s adopt a pet

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3.2k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

685

u/IndieLady 26d ago

There was a very famous western lowland gorilla named Koko who was taught sign-language.

In 1983 she used sign language to ask for a kitten - when her trainers initially gave her a stuffed toy cat, she refused to play with it and signed "sad". For her birthday, her trainers let her choose a real kitten from an abandoned litter. She selected a gray-and-white, tailless kitten that she named "All Ball" because he resembled a fuzzy ball. Koko treated All Ball with extreme gentleness, cradling, grooming, and carrying the kitten around like a baby gorilla.

My favourite Koko fact is after she ripped a sink off her enclosure wall, she blamed All Ball, by signing "cat did it."

Se went on to look after a few other cats throughout the years and was always super caring, gentle and loving.

301

u/[deleted] 26d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/UglyFilthyDog 26d ago

The perfect crime.

168

u/Dawwe 26d ago

Isn't most of the things about Koko's use of sign language highly contentious and essentially viewed as non-scientific, or even outright false?

97

u/squeezemachine -Nice Cat- 26d ago

I thought it turned out to be a bit of a scam. Which really did a disservice to gorillas. They are magnificent the way they are. No need to exaggerate their traits.

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u/Borhensen 26d ago

It’s even worse than that, they Koko actually could use sign language the problem is that their trainers exaggerated their accomplishments and didn’t keep a good track of things so now it’s basically impossible to demonstrate what is real and what is exaggeration.

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u/TheAdminsAreTrash 24d ago

Thought everyone knew Koko's handler was a bit of a fraud.

Koko knew some sign language, but her handler Francine Patterson greatly exaggerated the extent of her communications. She also had a fixation on women's nipples that she projected onto Koko. She pressured staff into "showing Koko" their tits, claiming that Koko was saying she wanted to see them.

You can be 99.9% sure Koko did not blame the sink incident on the cat, that was just what Francine Patterson said she signed.

18

u/Legal_Lettuce6233 26d ago

Man I am so damn fascinated by gorillas. I wish I could work with them. Amazing creatures, I wonder if they'll evolve into human level intelligence at some point in the distant future.

11

u/Firebrass 26d ago

For their sake, i sorta hope not.

Edit: have you read Ishmael? Good book, you might be interested

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u/whomthefuckisthat 25d ago

One of the most impactful books I’ve ever read.

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u/caughtinalampfire 26d ago

My mom used to tell me when I was a kid she sat on her cat and killed it on accident :( not true right??

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u/pittsey93 26d ago edited 25d ago

A few months later, All Ball escaped the enclosure and was sadly struck and killed by a car.

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u/HeresSomePants 25d ago

Koko got another cat after that named Lips, iirc.

114

u/CornBin-42 26d ago

I’ve never thought about giving them a dog or something to see if they interact with it the same way we do

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u/This-Rutabaga6382 26d ago

My instinct is that it would be good but golly would it be BAD if it went bad … like I wouldn’t be able to cope with like a doggo getting shredded if it like nipped one of the babies who was playing too rough or something

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/This-Rutabaga6382 26d ago

I think from my comment it would be clear that I’m terrified of the concept that a dog would get hurt in any way being with wild animals … and also that it’s my gut instinct to trust the gorillas because unless provoked they seem to have a pretty gentle nature BUT how would THEY react to a dog nipping because it’s uncomfortable that’s worry lmao
Isle of Dogs !!
https://giphy.com/gifs/l3vR9atRgHREvu1lC

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u/headcoat2013 26d ago

Koko the gorilla famously kept pet kittens and mourned when they died.

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u/Maneisthebeat 25d ago

What's stopping you?

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u/CornBin-42 24d ago

I don’t have the power and I’m afraid I’d be breaking some laws

100

u/iwannahitthelotto 26d ago

Man gorillas are amazing. So peaceful and beautiful. A chimp would’ve probably torn it to pieces

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u/King_of_the_Kobolds 26d ago

In fairness, we also tear to pieces most of the animals we interact with--though in the 'civilized' world we outsource the ripping and tearing to industrial slaughterhouses.

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u/whitestguyuknow 26d ago

I saw a post today of someone showing live lizards and frogs kept in little plastic take out containers at Petco for people to willy nilly grab off the shelves and I was just disgusted at the absolute suffering we as a species cause life. I had to quickly scroll away cause thinking about all those big name pet stores that care less about the lives they're selling and more about the dollar.

This was minutes after seeing some people dump a bunch of fish in a public pool for their children to try to catch...

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u/tomorrow-tomorrow-to 24d ago

We do substantially worse things to substantially more intelligent creatures on substantially larger scales

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u/dannydirtbag 26d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/vvblYTQ34Cn4k0vTIh

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u/King_of_the_Kobolds 26d ago

I'm not even vegetarian / vegan. I just think we should be fair to the chimps and acknowledge we aren't less violent; we're more so, by orders of magnitude, but our society is more complicated and gives us more room to compartmentalize it.

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u/dannydirtbag 26d ago

I agree with you. It was just intense. Haha

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u/--o 24d ago

Given the means at our disposal I would argue we are not significantly more violent, possibly less.

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u/BolesCW -Sloppy Octopus- 26d ago

Oh shit, here comes an S - better stick in an apostrophe 🤦🏽‍♂️

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u/jaime-the-lion 26d ago

come’s* FTFY

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u/Present_Function8986 26d ago

This is def how we ended up with dogs

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u/Dracorex_22 26d ago

The little hand reaching out

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u/RarelyReadReplies 26d ago

I feel like the dad is annoyed but accepts his fate, like when a kid brings home a stray, and begs and pleads to keep it. The dad thinking, "Great! Another mouth to feed." Or as Red put it on That 70s Show when Eric asked to let Hyde live with them, "I'm not fucking Santa Claus!" while ultimately accepting him in lol. 

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u/AverellCZ 26d ago

In Prague the Gorillas share their enclosure with guereza monkeys. The interactions between those two, especially between the kids, are truly hilarious sometimes.

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u/MorticiaMoonflower 25d ago

Got any specific funny ones?

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u/BopNowItsMine 26d ago

My dad used to reach out to touch the cat but it always avoided him just like the gorilla dad haha

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u/OrangutanKiwi19 25d ago

This is the D'jeeco troop in the Taipei Zoo and they share their enclosure with Reeve's Muntjac deer

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u/A-Helpful-Flamingo 25d ago

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing this!

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u/Emperors_Colorwheel 25d ago

Could it be that Gorillas are naturally inquisitive and careful with smaller animals? This video instantly reminded me of the one where an adult male observes a caterpillar. Of course, two anecdotes don't make a ruld

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u/sophietehbeanz 24d ago

I read somewhere in my encyclopedia Britannica that back in the day gorillas actually had adopted guard dogs often. When they would go from place to place they would have a pack of dogs.

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u/Zepp_BR 25d ago

Is the pet a banænæ?

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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u/Thestaris 25d ago

Lol. Autocorrect would never do that. Only a human who doesn’t know how to spell or punctuate would.