Michael (March 17, 1973,

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the ...

– April 19, 2000) was the first male 'talking'

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four ...

. He had a working

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the ...

of over 600 signs in

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expre ...

, taught to him by Koko, a female gorilla; Dr. Francine Patterson (to whom the gorillas referred using the sign "''penny''"); and other staff of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. Michael, an orphan, spent most of his life in

Woodside, California Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside is among the wealthiest communities in the United States, home to many technology billionaires and investment mana ...

, where he became a local celebrity and painter, creating vividly colourful abstract works.

Biography

Michael's parents were killed while he was still a baby. According to the movie ''Koko: Conversation with a Gorilla'', his handlers felt that using sign language, he was attempting to relate his mother's death at the hands of

poachers Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

. At the age of three, he was brought to live with Koko at Stanford. Michael's

favorite color In the psychology of color, color preferences are the tendency for an individual or a group to prefer some colors over others, such as having a favorite color or a traditional color. Introduction An 'ecological valence theory' (EVT) has bee ...

was yellow, and his favorite television shows were ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'' and ''

Mister Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), commonly known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterianism, Presbyterian Minister (Christianity), minister. He was the creator, showrunner ...

''. He enjoyed listening to

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numero ...

and looking at pictures. Michael also greatly enjoyed painting, and took it quite seriously, as opposed to Koko, who would paint for fun.

Use of language

Michael had a vocabulary of over 600 signs, some of which he learned from Koko. They both used 'stink' for 'flowers', and 'lip' for 'girl'. Because of the musculo-skeletal difference between apes and humans, the two gorillas employed a modified version of

signs, adapted for their physical abilities. In sign language, deaf humans often create new signs by combining two or more signs, to express a concept for which they have no sign. Additionally, repetition and exaggeration of signs is used to create emphasis. Repetition, exaggeration and the creation of new signs by combining signs are techniques which are also used by simian 'signers'. Michael learned 20 words within his first year with

The Gorilla Foundation The Gorilla Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1976 by Francine Patterson and Ronald Cohn in order to purchase the young gorilla named Koko from the San Francisco Zoo. Patterson had been teaching Koko American Sign Language since ...

. The following is an example of Michael's description of an event that is thought by humans at The Gorilla Foundation to be the death of his mother—killed by

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption, most often referring to the meat of game in Africa. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity for inhabitants of humid tropi ...

poachers when he was quite young: :"Squash meat gorilla. Mouth tooth. Cry sharp-noise loud. Bad think-trouble look-face. Cut/neck lip (girl) hole.""KokoFLIX Videoblog Archive"
2015 THE GORILLA FOUNDATION / Koko.org, March 23, 2008. Michael seemed to behave akin to a small child. Michael described emotion, memories, and lies through sign language. Both Michael and Koko used the sign "''fake''" to describe a lie or to express doubt about the truth of a statement.

Death

Michael died of heart failure on April 19, 2000. Koko and her more recent potential mate,

Ndume Ndume is a male western lowland gorilla known for having learned a limited amount of a modified version of American Sign Language (ASL) and for being at the center of lawsuit over his custody between the Cincinnati Zoo and the Gorilla Foundation. ...

, mourned his passing for several months. Koko died in 2018, and staff have since returned Ndume to the Cincinnati Zoo, where he lives with two female gorilla companions.

References

{{Great ape language 1973 animal births 2000 animal deaths Apes from language studies Individual gorillas Individual animals in the United States Animal artists

Biography

Use of language

Death

See also

References