This Is Where Koko The Gorilla Is Buried

Koko and Penny Patterson's unique relationship drove Project Koko, the "longest interspecies communication study in history," as the Gorilla Foundation's About Us page states. When Penny met Koko in 1971 she was a Ph.D. candidate doing her dissertation in developmental psychology at Stanford University. Koko — whose full name is Hanabi-ko, or "fireworks child" in Japanese — had been abandoned by her mother after getting sick. Penny found the "tiny, undernourished baby gorilla," as the Gorilla Foundation's Koko page says, and took her under her wing.

One year later, per the Gorilla Foundation's History page, Penny started "Project Koko," which by 1976 would blossom into the Gorilla Foundation. While Koko remained the focus of Penny's energy and the overall endeavor, the foundation turned towards conservation efforts as a whole. Two male gorillas — Michael and Ndume — joined the foundation in 1976 and 1991, respectively. Both were originally intended to be Koko's mates. No coupling happened between the gorilla's but Koko and Michael enjoyed a "sibling" type relationship until Michael died in 2000. After Koko then died in 2018 the Cincinnati Zoo requested that Ndume be returned to their facility from the Gorilla Foundation's private sanctuary, where he'd spent the 27 years prior, as the Gorilla Foundation's Ndume page states.

All the while Koko grew in popularity amongst the general public. She subverted expectations about what "huge, scary" monsters gorillas are supposed to be, as the Gorilla Foundation's Koko page says — same as she subverted Penny's own expectations about her future, lifelong companion. Hence the Gorilla Foundation's assertion that "all gorillas are Kokos."

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