Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gopher]

AP) -- For the first time, biologists have documented gorillas in the wild using simple tools, such as poking a stick in a swampy pool of water to check its depth.

Until now, scientists had seen gorillas use tools only in captivity. Among the great apes, tool use in the wild was thought to be a survival skill reserved for smaller chimpanzees and orangutans.

The research in the Republic of Congo's rainforests was led by Thomas Breuer of the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, which released details of his study. Breuer is in Africa and was not immediately available for an interview.

"This is a truly astounding discovery," he said in a statement...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/09/30/gorilla.tools.ap/index.html

[mithridates]

One thing that I've always wondered about is what would happen if you were to teach 100 gorillas to use sign language, complex tools and so on, and then let them go back in the wild. Or maybe even 1000. Five years later if you went back to the forest where they all lived, would a previously unknown one be able to talk with you? Maybe he would say:
"Hey. I hear(d about) you. Where (did you) go (for) five years? My cousin want(s to) eat jelly bear(s) again. She talk(s about) them every day. (Do) you have (any)?"

[Red]

Probably wont be too long before they're debating politics on the internet.

[Gopher]

Yes. Well, it's all a well-known slippery slope that ultimately leads to: "Get your hands off me, you damn dirty apes!"

[mindmetoo]

Chimps have been known to use tools, like using sticks to get at tasty ants. Otters use one clam to bash open another clam.

[Paji eh Wong]

I'd like to be the first to hail our future gorilla overlords.

[bourquetheman]

Actually there is a gorlilla named "Coco" that was taught sign language (a form of American sign language as they don't have as much dexterity in their fingers as we do) and she knows almost 1000 signs. After losing her baby they got her a kitten and the kitten ended up dying too. They asked how she felt and she said in sign language "Coco sad". There is a website for her, truly amazing.

[rapier]

About Our Friend Koko

Koko is a female lowland gorilla born in 1971. Michael, a male lowland gorilla born in 1973 was Koko's best friend. They both used sign language and understood spoken English. Koko began studying sign language at the age of 1 and Michael at the age of 3 1/2. Before project Koko, very little was known about gorillas intelligence. Dr. Penny Patterson, began working with Koko as a Ph.D. project at Stanford, thinking it would only be a 4-year study. Thirty-some years later, Penny and Koko continue to work together at the Gorilla Foundation in one of the longest interspecies communication studies ever conducted, the only one with gorillas. During the course of the study, Koko advanced further with language than any other non-human. Koko has a working vocabulary of over 1,000 signs. She understands approximately 2,000 words spoken in English. Koko has a tested IQ of between 70 and 95 on a human scale.

Koko has proven the stereotyped image of gorillas as blood-thirsty, destructive monsters was totally false. Koko and other animals have possessed human qualities over the time of the project. Koko is famous not only for her language capabilities, but also her heart-warming relationship with kittens. As Penny said, "She's just as much a person as we are." Koko's desire is to have a baby. She indicated that she would teach her children sign language, and that will become the next generation of interspecies of communication.

http://www.koko.org/

-(includes video of Koko using sign language)

[Sooke]

[Sooke]

I got these pictures of a wild chimp using tools. (sorry, a little off topic because we're talking about gorillas, but...)






wait for it....

























BAMMMMM!!! OHHHH No I di' ent!!!!!!



But it ain't too good at riding Segways.

[Sooke]

D'ohh! double post

[Gopher]

Thanks, Sooke. I speculated with Igotthisguitar on how long it might take for any random post on the Current Events thread to get to Bush, and I now see that it can happen as early as page one.

And they get angry when some of us refer to Bush Derangement Syndrome...

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=44466

[Sooke]

[joe_doufu]