The Education of Koko

More about the book

Koko is a ten-year-old, female lowland gorilla. She is the first of her species to have acquired a human language. This is the story of Project Koko, the longest ongoing study of the language abilities of an ape yet undertaken. The project was initiated by Dr. Francine Patterson in 1972 and is still continuing today. The Education of Koko is the cooperative effort of Eugene Linden and Francine (Penny) Patterson. Eugene Linden has written extensively about the various language experiments with the great apes, and it is his feeling that Project Koko has achieved the most extraordinary results of any of the language experiments with animals. As this book will be dealing primarily with Dr. Patterson¹s research and the events that have marked Project Koko, the authors have decided to use her voice to present the details of her work. The interpretation of these details reflects the consensus of both authors.