A Denver zookeeper illustrated how deep the bond between a gorilla and a person can go.
That was something Koko, one of the world's most famous gorillas, did too before passing away Thursday at the age of 46.
Koko was well known for learning sign language from her caretakers at the San Francisco Zoo. She learned more than a thousand words in sign language during her life.
Michelle Valois, a longtime primate zookeeper at the Denver Zoo, has been around gorillas for so long, sometimes she forgets how to be around humans.
“Learning how to communicate with the animals helps me communicate better with people sometimes,” Valois said. “I try not to get the two confused by grumbling at a human … not going to say it never happens!”
Through the years she’s learned to build trust and be consistent.
“Asking them to do the easy things and having them respond to you is amazing,” she said. “Asking them to do the hard things and having them respond is a level above that.”
She compares building relationships with gorillas to doing building them with her children.
“The reinforcers we provide to animals to get them to do the things we want are kind of the same things I’ve used to raise my children," she said.
