Koko the 300-pound gorilla logged on to the Internet this week and clearly was not impressed. During what was billed as the world's first inter-species online chat, Koko was far more interested in her toy alligator and thoughts of dinner than in answering a barrage of questions from thousands of eager humans.
"I like drinks," Koko said, in one of her more lucid comments during the 45-minute dialogue. Koko's foray into the high-tech world of Internet chatrooms was sponsored by America Online and Envirolink, which together with the Gorilla Foundation near San Francisco set up the event to publicise the plight of the world's great apes.
Lowland gorillas like Koko are threatened by logging and poaching in their native habitats in central Africa, while their cousins, the mountain gorillas, number now fewer than 500 in the wild.
Koko, who is 26, was seen as the obvious online ambassador for her species. Raised and trained near San Francisco, she has studied modified American Sign Language for 25 years and is now said to understand some 2,000 words of spoken English.
Unfortunately, few of these were put into play during Monday's discussion.
"Lips," Koko said, using her codeword for woman. "Koko loves lips."
Dr Francine Patterson, Koko's tutor and translator, said Koko's relative IQ was about 86 and that she reacts to many situations much like a human child. which Patterson said is her word for "bad".
Koko's laconic approach to the Internet was frustrating for the human chatterers, who peppered her with questions ranging from her opinions on Darwinian Theory to her views on the new movie version of King Kong.
She did manage one shocker demanding "food and smokes" for her birthday but Patterson said Koko was tobacco-free and was really asking for her former pet, a kitten named Smokey.
Kevin Connelly, a spokesman for the Gorilla Foundation, said the cyberchat had gone as well as could be expected and that Koko had actually been cut off at times because the human entering her responses could not type quickly enough.
