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conceptionyesterday at 1:18 PM1 replyview on HN

Fun fact! Koko’s abilities to sign and communicate were a total fraud!

https://bigthink.com/life/ape-sign-language/


Replies

junonyesterday at 3:10 PM

To dismiss it as total fraud is disingenuous, but I do agree that the personification of some of those videos is quite egregious. I don't think anyone expected a chimp to make coherent, grammatically correct sentences. But the relationship between sign/vocalization and emotion/desire is strong and seen in many animals, such as parrots. It depends on your definition of communication I suppose.

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