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Koko begins world domination The tour starts with Mr. Rogers and the Internet First it was ultimate hipster Mr. Rogers, then it was off into cyberspace. Koko, a twenty-six year old lowland gorilla who speaks through sign language, has been making the rounds and grabbing headlines recently, exchanging pleasantries with Mr. Rogers and chatting with folks at Lycos' chat channel. Monday, April 27, Koko went online with hundreds of eager humans, speaking through Dr. Francine "Penny" Patterson. This marked the first inter-species online chat in history, unless you count a previous open forum where humans spoke to the cast of Friends. Koko was to answer questions about the plight of gorillas in honor of Earth Day, which took place the previous Wednesday. The gregarious simians have, of course, been accosted by well wishers and autograph seekers in the past several years due to the popularity of such films as George of the Jungle and Gorillas in the Mist, which also featured hairless human Sigourney Weaver. As the star of the thriller "Congo," Koko was well versed in the subject. However, Koko was more interested in her toy alligator, and became hungry and tired after an hour and a half or so of questions. Chatters asked Koko probing questions like "What's your favorite movie?" and "Does anyone ever mistake you for Bob Hoskins?" Eventually, nature called and Koko had to say goodbye for the evening. The chat also set another precedent: Koko was the hairiest mammal to speak on the Internet, an honor previously held by cherubic comic, Robin Williams. This is the first announced appearance of Koko, but many suspected they had talked with her before, except she described herself as an eighteen year old blonde college freshman with 38Ds and a shy giggle. Last month, Koko attended a summit with Mr. Rogers, taped for the child's show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The PBS happyman asked Koko his famous question, "Won't you be my neighbor?" to which Koko answered, "Love you, visitor. Koko love!" Rogers then got a taste of hot monkey love. As Dr. Patterson put it, "Koko's affinity for Mr. Rogers was immediately apparent. His soothing and quiet manner soon had Koko so relaxed that she had her arm around him and was intent upon removing his sweater and shoes." Koko is also an artist whose paintings can be found at The Gorilla Foundation at www.gorilla.org. Koko has demonstrated the use of over 1,000 words of American Sign Language and shown comprehension of over 2,000 words of spoken English, which almost made her overqualified to speak in the average chat room. -Nick |
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