# How do you sign for "Koko want titty!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978 "2005-02-20T02:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/1 "2005-02-20T02:23:16Z")
[I thought this story was funny enough to share.](http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_valley/10942073.htm?1c) Here is the story opener: > [@](#): > > We already knew that Koko the gorilla liked sign language, kittens and painting. But nipples? > > That’s what two fired handlers at Woodside’s Gorilla Foundation say they were told by the organization’s president, Francine ``Penny’’ Patterson. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Mateo County court, the handlers say Patterson demanded the two women bare their breasts to the famed lowland primate because Patterson believes the animal enjoys it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/2 "2005-02-20T02:32:20Z")
[Koko the Gorilla is a big business](http://www.koko.org/kokomart/privacy.html) Actually what I _really_ want to see in this scenario is if outside primate behavior experts will be brought into confirm or debunk this amazing vocabulary of Koko’s as part of this lawsuit. IIRC rtesearcher access to Koko has always been very limited. > [@](#): > > Who is Koko? > > When Francine “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. > Who is Penny? > > Dr. Francine “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, Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Santa Clara University, 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. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/3 "2005-02-20T14:27:19Z")
I, too, am skeptical of how much Koko is actually communicating, vs. how much Penny is projecting onto her. I don’t have my copy here, but I believe Martin Gardner had a chapter on her (and primate communication studies in general) in his _Science: Good, Bad and Bogus_. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/4 "2005-02-20T16:07:54Z")
Stephen Pinker also discusses Koko and other non-human primates in _The Language Instinct_. He’s not impressed. Many, many moons ago, I wrote [this piece](http://www.tafkac.org/language/primates_and_language.html) for the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban. Things haven’t changed substantially since then, as far as I’ve been able to find out. Patterson chooses to release her findings to popular television programs and mass-market magazines to the exclusion of peer-reviewed journals, and apparently continues to staff the Gorilla Institute with people who believe in Koko’s abilities and to block or restrict access by skeptics. If the nipple accusations are true, then all I can say is :eek: she’s finally flipped! ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/5 "2005-02-20T16:22:26Z")
Has to be one of the worst pick up lines I’ve ever heard. “Show me your hooters. My gorilla likes it.” Can’t believe it worked. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/6 "2005-02-20T16:44:35Z")
See [Talking with a Gorilla](http://www.geocities.com/willc7/TalkingToKoko.html) if you really want to see just how silly the claims have gotten for her ability to communicate. > [@](#): > > Knauer says the gorilla is concerned about the future of her species and wants to show people how to be more Earth-friendly. “We’re trying to educate people about what they can do for Earth Day and beyond,” he says. “If a gorilla can stand up and speak up about environmental issues, maybe normal people can do the same.” ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/7 "2005-02-20T17:18:59Z")
Robin Williams describes a similar story in “Live On Broadway”, which was in 2002. “When a gorilla’s got you by the tits… you listen!” ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/8 "2005-02-20T17:31:02Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Stephen Pinker also discusses Koko and other non-human primates in _The Language Instinct_. He’s not impressed. > > Many, many moons ago, I wrote [this piece](http://www.tafkac.org/language/primates_and_language.html) for the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban. Things haven’t changed substantially since then, as far as I’ve been able to find out. Patterson chooses to release her findings to popular television programs and mass-market magazines to the exclusion of peer-reviewed journals, and apparently continues to staff the Gorilla Institute with people who believe in Koko’s abilities and to block or restrict access by skeptics. > > If the nipple accusations are true, then all I can say is :eek: she’s finally flipped! Excelllent article! ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/9 "2005-02-20T19:08:48Z")
> [@Boyo Jim](#): > > How do you sign for “Koko want titty!” Double handed bike horn honk. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/10 "2005-02-20T23:00:10Z")
This is really funny, but it’s really strange, too. In April 1997, [MAD TV](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-725/epid-6300/) did a sketch about Cha-Cha, the signing gorilla. The gorilla signs something, and the woman researcher interprets. An observer says “That’s not right. I know sign language, and she just asked you for oral sex!” Near the end of the sketch, the gorilla leads the researcher into the bushes where you hear the usual naughty noises. 🙂 I wonder if this is a coincidence, or these type of things have occurred before and rumors got out for MAD TV to pick up. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/11 "2005-02-21T00:28:06Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Robin Williams describes a similar story in “Live On Broadway”, which was in 2002. > > “When a gorilla’s got you by the tits… you listen!” “DO NOT GO TO STAGE 2!” ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/12 "2005-02-21T14:28:30Z")
I just want to point out that Koko is a female gorilla. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-sign-for-koko-want-titty/290978/13 "2005-02-21T16:58:01Z")
And Ms. Patterson is also female. Perhaps, the reasoning behind displaying one’s mammaries to a gorilla is to show your solidarity with the animal by proving that you are fellow mammals? See, a perfectly logical explanation can be found if you just bullsh… er, think about it.