Talk:Koko (gorilla)
From Academic Kids
No word on her care of cats? Her search for a suitable mate? or Koko in fiction? - Sparky 23:11, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)
I'm wondering whether the characterization, "Some scientists... language. Many others... operant conditioning," isn't subtly non-NPOV, suggesting that the (purported) minority position is wrong simply by virtue of its being in the minority. Does someone have hard data (or at least a reference) about the split in opinion on this matter? In the meantime, how about changing it to "Some scientists..." and "Other scientists..."? Also, it would be nicec to have a bit more information about why Patterson and others think Koko is actually using language. Not mention a link to an article or website that discusses the difficulties of verifying language use in non-humans. (I don't have the time at the moment or I would look for these myself.) - dcljr 23:56, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I've made the change I was discussing above. I also was uncomfortable with the use of claimed in the sentence:
- Patterson eventually claimed that Koko had a vocabulary of over 1000 signs.
which I changed to:
- Patterson eventually assessed Koko's vocabulary at over 1000 signs.
I think the word claim carries unnecessary negative connotations. - dcljr 08:48, 30 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Pets
"Koko is also the only known non-human animal known to keep a pet of a different species; she has cared for several cats over the years."
I wouldn't be so sure about this. I know of a family with both dogs and cats, in which one of the dogs is specially attracted to one cat and 'protects' that cat from the other animals. It could be argued that the dog considers this cat as its pet (or the other way around? maybe the dog is protecting its 'owner'?). I can't think of other examples right now, but there probably are various.
