The Importance of Interspecies Communication "Koko is the kind of daughter who, even at 32, likes to settle into her mother's lap and cuddle. It doesn't matter if she weighs 300 pounds" (Adams 1999). When Koko, a baby gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo, was adopted by her mother, Dr. Francine "Penny" Patterson, she suffered from malnutrition. Koko, one of the best-known gorillas in the world, is able to communicate with humans through American Sign Language or Ameslan, the Deaf Hand, used by approximately 200,000 deaf Americans (Patterson 1978). Koko is famous for her ability to communicate with humans and her active role in saving her endangered species. Patterson inherited an interest in psychology from his father, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois. In 1970, Patterson earned her bachelor's degree in developmental psychology from the University of Illinois, after discovering she was much more interested in the structure of the animal brain. He later attended Stanford University, where he first encountered a chimpanzee that used sign language to communicate with humans (Adams 1999). Soon after, she became fascinated by Koko and the possibility of working with her like the chimpanzees do in the video. The name Hanabi-Ko, which means "Fireworks Child" in Japanese, was given to the gorilla, due to his birthday being the Fourth of July and Koko became his nickname (Patterson 1978). In 1972, when Dr. Patterson first visited Koko at the San Francisco Zoo, Koko was a three-month-old lowland gorilla playing with her mother. After nine months, Dr. Patterson finally convinced the zoo director to let her teach Koko sign language. On his first visit, "Patterson greeted... middle of paper... rch9, 2004, from the Educational Broadcasting Corporation website: www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/koko/print/newhome. htmlLinden, E. (1986).New York: Times Books.Patterson, Francine (1978).Forbes, ASAP, vol. eight, p81,1pSchneider, Elaine Ernst (2001). /www.lessontutor.com/eesASLIntro.htmlSpilky, Scott (2002) Retrieved March 13, 2004, from the University of Illinois Board of Trustees website .las.uiuc.edu/alumni/spotlight/03fall_patterson.htmlTrask, Larry (1998 Koko the Talking Gorilla Retrieved March 8, 2004, Website).: larryt@cogs.susx.ac.uk