Superstar Koko the gorilla passed away in her sleep at the age of 46 at an animal sanctuary in Northern California.
Koko became a pop culture phenomenon after mastering sign language.
“Koko touched the lives of millions as an ambassador for all gorillas and an icon for interspecies communication and empathy,” The Gorilla Foundation said in an announcement. “She was beloved and will be deeply missed.”
Koko’s fame landed her on the cover of National Geographic twice. She also became friends with celebrities like Robin Williams and Mr. Rogers.
The western lowland gorilla was known for his intelligence and extraordinary abilities.
Koko worked with psychologist Francine “Penny” Patterson and learned more than 1,000 words in sign language and understand more than 2,000 words spoken to her in English.
“She taught me more than I taught her, for sure,” Patterson, 71, told ABC News. “She had opportunities to show her brilliance and that’s what we saw. We saw a person, really. She had all the attributes of a person and then some.”
Koko was born at the San Francisco Zoo and loaned to Patterson at the age of 1 for her Stanford University research project on interspecies communication.
When they wanted her back for breeding, Patterson raised more than $12,000 to adopt Koko. Patterson says they are still trying to figure out why KoKo died.
“Many gorillas have a heart condition, cardiomyopathy, and she had it, but it was apparently a mild case and was being treated for that. That’s one possibility,” she said.
Patterson said she looked “peaceful” when she passed on.
“She was looking a little sad and worried, and she looked straight at me and held two signs,” she said. “One was ‘patient’ and the second one was ‘old.’ So she was trying to explain, ‘Hey, I’m getting on.'”
A funeral will be held close enough to Koko’s dwelling so that The Gorilla Foundation’s other gorilla, 35-year-old Ndume, can “see the whole things and participate.
Patterson thinks that seeing Koko’s body will bring Ndume some closure.
“He’s sad. When he came to see her, he brought some blankets. He brought a chair, he brought his favorite barrel and he arranged her blankets so they were off of her and around her,” Patterson said. “And then he sat on his barrel and he could see that I was sad, and he signed, Know.’ ‘I know.’ Basically, he was telling me he knew what happened. And he also signed, ‘cry,’ which, of course, is what we’re doing.”
According to IFL Science, Koko loved to adopt kittens and said that Koko could talk about the future, rhyme, tell jokes, and even lie.
“I think that’s one of Koko’s deepest regrets is not having a baby,” she told ABC News.
She did have two cats, Ms. Gray and Ms. Black who she considered to be her babies. The cats, along with volunteers and staff members of The Gorilla Foundation who care for Koko will be in attendance at Koko’s funeral.
“It’s really a celebration of life,” Patterson said.
You can see Koko and her kitten babies in the video below.
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