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About The Gorilla Foundation
Mission:
To bring interspecies communication to the public,
in order to save gorillas from extinction,
and inspire our children to create a sustainable future for
all great apes.
Motto: Conservation
through Communication
Corporate Profile:
The Gorilla Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 corporation dedicated
to the preservation, protection and well-being of gorillas through
interspecies communication research and education. The foundation
was established in 1976 and is best known for it's groundbreaking
work with two western lowland gorillas, Koko and MIchael, who
were taught to become fluent in American Sign Language. The
results are published in numerous research papers, books and
videos that can be found in our Bibliography.
Our current goals include: a) establishing the Maui
Ape Preserve, b) helping Koko to have a baby, with her new
mate, Ndume, and thus foster cultural transmission of a human-taught
language to a new generation of gorillas, c) providing and modeling
the best care for gorillas in captivity, and d) developing multimedia
and web-based educational resources for partner institutions,
schools and advocates to help convert our knowledge base into
practical conservation, legal rights and captive care achievements
for great apes. (See for example the ZEST
— Zoo Enrichment Signing Tutorial program.)
The work of the Foundation is underwritten by donations from
individuals, grants from foundations and corporations, and educational
product sales. The Foundation receives no support from government
sources. |
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Who is Koko?
When
Penny Patterson, a young graduate student in psychology at Stanford,
first saw a tiny, undernourished baby gorilla named Hanabi-Ko
at the San Francisco Zoo, she had little inkling that the sickly
ape would become her constant companion - and the subject of
the longest continuous experiment ever undertaken to teach language
to another species. But within a year, Project Koko was underway,
and in two weeks the gorilla was using correct signed gestures
for food, drink, and more. Today, more than 25 years later,
Koko - the world's most renowned gorilla - is drawing on a vocabulary
of more than 1,000 words. |
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Who is Penny?
Dr.
Penny Patterson received a degree in Psychology at the University
of Illinois and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Stanford.
She is now President and Research Director of The Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org,
a member of the Board of Consultants at the Center for Cross
Cultural Communication in Washington, D.C., and is the Editor-in-Chief
of Gorilla, the journal of The Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org.
Note: Psychology runs in the Patterson family: Penny's father,
Dr. C.H. Patterson, who has been a key supporter and source
of inspiration for Penny and TGF, is also a world-renowned professor
and author in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy - see
his insightful website.
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Who is Ron?
Dr. Ron Cohn is the Co-Founder, Vice President
and principal photo-video documentatarian for Project Koko.
He is responsible for most of the visual content on the site!
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Contact Information
| Mailing
Address |
The
Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org
Box 620530
Woodside, CA 94062
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| Email
Addresses: |
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| Phone
(USA): |
800-ME-GO-APE
( 800-634-6273 ) Outside
of USA: 650-216-6450 |
| Facsimile: |
650.365.7906 |
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