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Fine Gorilla Person

Written by: Lauren Ober
Narrated by: Lauren Ober
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  • Summary

  • If you grew up in the '80s or '90s, you might be familiar with the story of Koko’s Kitten. It’s the tale of a giant gorilla named Koko who made friends with a tiny baby cat called All Ball. But this gorilla wasn’t just any ape—she spoke sign language. Or at least a gorilla version of it. And when Koko wanted her kitty brought to her, she just signed his name. The story riveted people young and old across America. When the children’s book Koko’s Kitten hit bookstores in 1985, Koko became a bonafide celebrity. She was on the cover of National Geographic magazine…twice. A famous filmmaker made a documentary about her. And she befriended all kinds of famous folks like Robin Williams, Betty White and William Shatner. But behind the celebrity lay a grim reality. All was not well in Koko land. Fine Gorilla Person, a new documentary series hosted by veteran journalist and podcast host Lauren Ober, unpacks the rise and fall of the world’s most famous gorilla. From Koko’s early days as a Stanford University science experiment to the failed schemes to make the captive gorilla a mother to the decades-long boondoggle to build a sanctuary for signing gorillas in Hawaii, Ober takes listeners on a journey to understand what became of Koko’s life. How did this extraordinary creature end up living the last half of her life in a tiny, dirty trailer, depressed, pumped full of pills and party to some weird sexual stuff? And what does it say about a culture that let that happen? An Audible Original produced by Topic Studios. The production company is Rowhome Productions.
    ©2022 Topic Studios, LLC (P)2022 Audible Originals, LLC
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Episodes
  • Trailer

    Trailer
    Aug 25 2022
    Koko the gorilla was the defining animal celebrity of the '80s and '90s. But behind the fame of this sign-language-using ape lay a grim reality. On Fine Gorilla Person, host Lauren Ober unpacks the rise and fall of the world’s most famous gorilla, from her early days as a Stanford University science experiment to the failed schemes to make Koko a mother to the decades-long boondoggle to build a sanctuary for signing gorillas in Hawaii. Oh, and a lot of weird sexual stuff. An Audible Original produced by Topic Studios. The production company is Rowhome Productions.
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    1 min
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  • Episode 1

    Episode 1
    Aug 25 2022
    In the pantheon of famous animals—Rin Tin Tin, Mr. Ed, Grumpy Cat, to name a few—there was none more famous (at least for a time) than Koko the gorilla. She knew sign language, she befriended tiny kittens, she was both science experiment and cultural icon. As her reputation grew, Koko was touted as our missing link, our entreé into the soul of the animal kingdom. And for a strident, stubborn little ape, that was a lot to live up to.
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    33 mins
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  • Episode 2

    Episode 2
    Aug 25 2022
    Koko was born in the San Francisco Zoo on the Fourth of July, 1971. And Koko would have remained there with the rest of her gorilla troop if it weren’t for one woman—Francine (Penny) Patterson, a young psychology PhD. student looking for an ape for her doctoral project. Penny wanted to know: “Could gorillas learn sign language?” Koko would soon answer that for her. And in the brief but distressing history of ape language studies, Koko grew to become the most famous speaking ape of them all.
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    30 mins
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