Koko

Some people say animals can’t be heroes, but I strongly disagree. I have an animal hero, her name is Koko. She shows people that animals have feelings and shouldn’t be mistreated; they shouldn’t be discarded or thrown away like last week’s paper. Koko is really intelligent and not that different from humans.

Koko was born on July 4th 1971 in San Francisco, California, where she has lived most of her life. There has been talk about moving her to a sanctuary in Maui, Hawaii. This idea has been thought about since the late 1990’s.

She is a lowland gorilla. The name Koko is short for the name Hanabi-Ko which means "fireworks child" in Japanese; they named her after her date of birth. Shortly after, when she was one year old, Koko began training with a psychologist named Francine “Penny” Patterson. She taught Koko American sign language and she now knows over 1000 signs, and she also knows over 2000 English words.

Koko is now 34 years old and still going. Her greatest desire is to have her own baby. She has said (signed) that if she does have a baby that she will teach her sign language. If she were to have a baby it would be with her mate Ndume. Penny believes that if Koko were to have a baby she would treat it with as much love and care as her kittens.

I have told you so much about Koko and you’re probably thinking that she doesn’t seem so special, but to me she does. Koko is special because she shows people that animals aren’t as different from humans as you think.

The fact is gorillas are like big, furry, silent humans. Gorillas are like humans in their intelligence, emotions, and their ability to feel pleasure and pain. Koko’s IQ is so close to humans it’s amazing. Her's is in the 80’s and 90’s and the average IQ for humans is 100. Animals feel emotions such as love, anger, happiness, excitement and sadness just as humans do.

The other reason Koko is my hero is because she shows people that animals need our help. Koko’s species may go extinct because their habitats are being destroyed. But Koko tells people about how much animals around the world need peoples help.

I think Koko is amazing and after you read this I hope you will too.