Who is that?
[thank] me there, okay. That is you
gorilla
animal
Coco Love
Okay, that's pretty good [that] [is] you you are a?
lovely animal
When penny Patterson and Coco a western lowland gorilla met nearly [30] years ago
neither had any idea they would become friends for life in
The long history of Human animal relationships their story is one of the most fascinating
It is the true tale of a young woman and a gentle giant
Walking hand in hand into a whole new world of understanding
They couldn't have known that their intimate friendship would shatter Century-Old
stereotypes and change forever our outlook of both gorillas and ourselves
Penny describes her friend with gentle honesty and affection
Coco's about five feet tall she weighs Roughly 300 pounds a little heavy for a female the average is 250
She's a big female gorilla
Coco has a very strong sense of self
she
Feels she's important. She's got a strong ego
She's playful very can be very silly
I spin a quick a really quick Spin, and then once you're good and dizzy
[Soon-Ja]
she's
Got a good sense of humor. Oh, no a
Monster a monster coming together yeah, like a turd
She can be very stubborn very willful finish you are finished
You are not finished
You didn't do the work. [I] asked please pick those up coco. You are very good at that
Their relationship is like no other penny and coco are the first human and gorilla to share a common language?
Penny taught Coco to speak sign language with them after you help
Okay
No, not fake no
their exchanges their conversations were enchanting and
Quickly revealed the power language has to build a bridge between our species
Then you go, and you bring those papers
You did he was missing [you]
when I look into Coco's eyes and
other people have said this that their their change forever that there's an exchange of
intellect and emotion that that
We get with another person
Coco's looking peering into your eyes and questioning you and asking you and getting information from you drawing you out
She can do that because she has sign language
by teaching Coco a language humans can understand
Penny Arm Coco with a powerful tool that allowed her to speak as an ambassador on behalf of her endangered species
Astonishingly [Koco] is willing to provide us a window into her life her mind and her heart
Who could have imagined that a gorilla could fall in love with a kitten search for a mate and yearn to be a mother?
She has challenged us to [acknowledge] that we share this world with other
intelligent animals
There is very little difference genetically
It's what [2] percent something like that when I tell people that we have the same number of hairs per square inch as great apes
They don't know that's impossible, or that we have the same blood types. [oh] come on
You know that's not right, but it's all true