Koko the Gorilla has passed away

[TurtleTitan97]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/21/health/koko-gorilla-death-trnd/index.html

[Utrommaniac]

I knew this was inevitable given how old she was. Still pretty sad.

I hoped they would at least have found a baby gorilla for her to raise at some point, since she spent decades wanting to be a mother. At least she could be a crazy cat lady. I remember having a storybook about her first cat Ball.

One of my favorite lines in Futurama nods to her.
Fry, I'm sorry. I should have understood how someone can love an inferior creature... because I love you... not in the way of the ancient Greeks, but the way a robot loves a human, and a human loves a dog, and, occasionally, a gorilla loves a kitty.


She's had a pretty amazing life, getting to meet people like Robin Williams and Mr Rogers, and still getting to be an influence on other younger gorillas, though they were more like brothers to her than surrogate babies. One of which preceded her in death, Michael.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Aww.... This is sad news indeed. Koko was probably my first introduction to the world of animal psychology and intelligence, and the one closest to my heart in terms of evidence for animal emotional development. She started my fascination with the subject, and I followed her story for years. This hits hard.