Program areas at The Gorilla Foundation
Conservation: KokoArc, KokoApp, KokoKids, KokoCaresAll of our 4 mission-level Projects (KokoArc, KokoApp, KokoKids and KokoCares) have an important role to play in achieving conservation through communication (our stated mission). They do this by increasing interspecies empathy. In order to save a species, people need to care about it. Thus approximately 25% of each of our Projects are allocated to Conservation. The Project that is most directly connected with gorilla conservation is KokoKids, where we are reaching out to students worldwide, and to teachers in gorilla habitat countries, to develop conservation curricula that informs and inspires students to ensure that gorillas are no longer critically endangered and that we continue to learn from them, directly, through interspecies communication.
Education: (Projects KokoApp, Kids4Koko)a) We continued to develop the Kids4Koko website, posting new interviews with kids and with founder Dr. Penny Patterson and guest experts.b) We designed a near-final version of the KokoApp, which will be a unique tool for learning sign language (from a gorilla) as well as educating people about the mind of a gorilla, the conservation crisis, and the need to treat gorillas more like persons than prisoners in captive settings (zoos) due to what weve learned about their intellectual and emotional capabilities through Project Koko. As of this writing (in FYE2023) we have found a world class app development partner, to build the KokoApp and take it public. The final design has benefited greatly from the preliminary design we created in FYE2022.
Research: (Project: KokoArc)In FYE2022, we digitized over 700 analog video tapes that were part of the Project Koko interspecies communication archive. The resulting files (which represent close to 1000 hours of footage) were entered into our new KokoArc database, and we began cataloging and annotating them for their research and educational content. We also produced and shared dozens of videos from this archive on The Gorilla Foundations social media, website and newsletters during FYE2022. As of the end of FYE2022, we were about half-way through our analog video collection. The digitization phase should be completed within CY2022.This content will be used to educate the public about the value of interspecies communication for great ape care in captivity and conservation in the wild, via our new KokoApp, and to collaborate with other researchers who want to extend the science of interspecies communication with great apes.