Mike and Sarah are journalists obsessed with the past. Every week they reconsider a person or event that's been miscast in the public imagination.
Koko The Gorilla
“It’s interesting that we became enthusiastic about ASL in the process of teaching it to a population that couldn’t benefit from it.”
Mike tells Sarah about a very special ape and the very problematic humans around her. Digressions include video dating, "Biography" and the terrible terrible inventor of the telephone. We start with a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT about the future of the show. Both co-hosts understand the difference between chimps, monkeys and apes but occasionally misspeak.
For a transcript of this episode (Thanks Andrea!), click here or copy-paste:
https://rottenindenmark.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/YWA-Koko-the-Gorilla-Transcript.pdf
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Where else to find us:
Sarah's other show, Why Are Dads
Mike's other show, Maintenance Phase
Links!
- Marcus Perlman, the researcher Mike interviewed!
- "Human and Animal Cognition: Continuity and Discontinuity"
- "In Memorium: Koko, A Remarkable Gorilla"
- "What Do Talking Apes Really Tell Us?"
- “Monkey Business”
- “Talk to the Animals,” the 1980 Omni article
- “Animal Bodies, Human Minds: Ape, Dolphin, and Parrot Language Skills”
- 1979 New York Magazine article on Herb Terrace
- “The Last Distinction?”
- “The Sad Twilight of Koko The Gorilla and Her 'Mother'”
- “Why Koko Can’t Talk”
- “The Other Side of Silence: Sign Language and the Deaf Community in America”
- “The Education of Koko”