Hanabiko, nicknamed " Koko " (July 4, 1971 – June 19, 2018) was a female western lowland gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo [3] and cross-fostered by Francine Patterson for use in ape language …

Featured twice on the cover of National Geographic magazine, Koko led to major revelations about animal empathy and communication. Koko, the western lowland gorilla that died in her sleep...

The Gorilla Foundation is best known for conducting the longest interspecies communication study in history (almost 5 decades) and the only one involving gorillas: Project Koko.

Apr 27, 2025 · Koko the gorilla, who became famous for her use of sign language, died in her sleep at age 46 in her California preserve on June 19, 2018.

Jun 3, 2023 · When Koko the gorilla died in 2018 at the age of 46, the world lost a critical window not only into the minds of our animal siblings but our mutual ties to our planet.

Jun 21, 2018 · Koko, the western lowland gorilla who learned sign language and became a pop-culture phenomenon, has died at the age of 46, the group that cared for her announced Thursday.

Watch Koko the signing gorilla in this clip from a 1981 National Geographic documentary.

Sep 4, 2025 · Her death marked the end of an era in primate communication research and left a lasting impact on our understanding of animal intelligence. Coco, born Hanabi-ko at the San Francisco Zoo …

Hanabiko, nicknamed " Koko " (July 4, 1971 – June 19, 2018) was a female western lowland gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo [2] and cross-fostered by Francine Patterson for use in ape language …

Apr 23, 2025 · Koko always wanted a baby gorilla to raise before her death, and there was every indication that Koko would teach that child the sign language she knew. The Gorilla Foundation …