man language. Studying gorillas’ intelligence and behavior will lead to a greater understanding of the species physical and psychological needs. Through this knowledge we can take the necessary steps to improve the treatment of captive gorillas and protect free living gorillas from extinction. Koko is a female gorilla born in 1971 and Michael is a male gorilla both in 1973. Koko is participation in this study began when she was one year old. Their intellectual, physical, and linguistic development has been studied since they were infants. Before the Gorilla Language project with Koko little has been know about gorilla intelligence.The Gorilla Language Project is both an effort to gather data about gorillas’ language and a case study to observe behavior. During the course of the study Koko has developed a working vocabulary of over 500 signs and has shown over 400 more signs. Koko’s conversations with her human friends are about three to six word sentences. Koko has a tested IQ of between 70 and 95 on a human scale. The average for is 100. Michael can also sign about 350 words. In addition to studies of vocabulary the project has investigated spontaneous gorilla language use. By demonstrating the intelligence of gorillas. The Foundation hopes to protect them from captive and mistreatment. The project Koko has proven that the stereotypical image of gorillas as bloodthirsty animals is inaccurate. The study of gorillas’ language sheds light on the vital connection between human and gorillas. We had known little about how animals could understand our language. The gorillas’ have the ability to learn and understand phonological development, semantic development, and grammar development which all are basic compounds to human language. One day all animals will be able to talk by using the human language....
