Koko the gorilla is best known for a lifelong study to teach her a silent form of communication, American Sign Language. But some of the simple sounds she has learned may change the perception that humans are the only primates with the capacity for speech.
In 2010, Marcus Perlman started research work at The Gorilla Foundation, where Koko has spent more than 40 years living immersed with humans -- interacting for many hours each day with psychologist Penny Patterson and biologist Ron Cohn.
"I went there with the idea of studying Koko's gestures, but as I got into watching videos of her, I saw her performing all these amazing vocal behaviors," says Perlman, now a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology Professor Gary Lupyan.
The vocal and breathing behaviors Koko had developed were not necessarily supposed to be possible.
The role of language in intelligence and the evolution of consciousness is fascinating. It's profound that apes can begin to learn it within the right social context. Still, humans do it quite innately.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Monday August 17 2015, @02:32AM
But it might be unnecessary to go all the way back. We could have just gotten a nudge on the last evolutionary step.