Ocean State Libraries

The real life experience of Koko, a gorilla in California who uses sign language, with a young kitten whom she loved and grieved over when it died.

In 1971, graduate student Penny Patterson began teaching sign language to a gorilla named Koko, a scientific experiment that evolved into an intimate friendship lasting almost half a century and changed the course of human-animal communication.

Explores the life and murder of Fossey who lived in Africa among the last remaining mountain gorillas.

Traces the adventurous life of the American woman who worked as a zoologist among the mountain gorillas of the Virunga area of central Africa.

The author relates her experiences as a late-diagnosed autistic, describing struggles with antisocial impulses, her connection with the gorillas at a Seattle zoo, and her eventual ability to develop human relationships.

Details Dian Fossey's life, with chapters devoted to her early years, life, work, writings, and legacy, as well as how children can follow in her footsteps. -Publisher description.

"Dian Fossey is widely celebrated for saving mountain gorillas from extinction. Her pioneering life was complex, and her enemies were rife. In 1985, Fossey was brutally slain in her remote mountain cabin. In the years since, one man has carried a heavy burden of injustice. The series is filled with Fossey's observations, recorded in her writings and brought to life by Sigourney Weaver." --

"Our love of gorillas has long been reflected in literature and films-Tarzan, King Kong, The Jungle Book, Gorillas in the Mist-and their popularity continues to grow. Gorillas are among the most recognizable of the large charismatic mammals, but climate change and poaching has brought them to the brink of extinction. Greg Cummings was the executive director of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund for seventeen years. He shares his fascinating experiences...