I think there is a lot of concern about newfound waves of misinformation, rightfully so with conspiracy theories spreading like wildfire on the internet. But sometimes I think even what are considered traditionally airtight sources deserve scrutiny for what information they pass along. Take the case of Koko the gorilla, the famous gorilla that can use sign language, it has been widely reported by many news agencies as a marvel of science and nature, even by national geographic. These reports bring together ideas of a world where people and apes can communicate an idea that is very appealing in the age of global warming, the idea that animals could be on the same intellectual plane as humans.
But unfortunately, there's a big issue with these far-fetched ideas that is rarely reported on. most linguist's and biologists feel that Koko and other apes like it are unworthy experiments. They think that while they may be able to learn some sign language, they are unable to really use it to express themselves and communicate like people do. Most experiments involving apes like Koko have long been defunded, as teaching them bits of sign language is really about all you can do. The people around Koko often fabricated video to make her seem more expressive and intelligent. They refused to let skeptics take a look at her and verify the far-fetched claims.
This is not to say apes are stupid or anything, it would be worth it to research the ape's actual means of communicating, but that is not what this is at all. According to prominent and accomplished linguist Noam Chomsky, "It’s an insult to chimpanzee intelligence to consider this their means of communication. It’s rather as if humans were taught to mimic some aspects of the waggle dance of bees and researchers were to say, “Wow, we’ve taught humans to communicate.”" furthermore he states that "Namely, if apes have this fantastic capacity, surely a major component of humans extraordinary biological success (in the technical sense), then how come they haven’t used it? It’s as if humans can really fly but won’t know it until some trainer comes along to teach them."
Why is this a big issue? because many big news agencies have repeatedly told this lie, as a means to get more reads or views. This isn't particularly hard information to research it took me only about 15-20 minutes to find all these articles. While they aren't as big as most articles about Koko, the Chomsky interview and NPR article weren't tough to find if you were genuinely looking at a skeptics' point of view about Koko. But I don't see this in all of the coverage I have seen of Koko. This is important because schoolteachers will use Koko and have used Koko as a way to get kids into science for years and see no reason why the information should be doubted. After all it's being covered by CNN and Nat Geo. People who consider themselves into science will do the same and not check up on it, because they are not so jaded as to spend a few hours digging up dirt on a gorilla, like I am.
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