Grandma Gorilla: Sign Language and Sorrow

Grandma Gorilla mourns:  Franklin Park Zoo, Boston, Massachusetts

Raised by humans from infancy outside of the gorilla community, Grandma Gorilla was taught sign language at a very early age, and learned to communicate by signing. But soon sign language and signing gorillas were no longer the rage, in the scientific community there were no monies available to continue to train gorillas in sign language, and Grandma Gorilla was plunked into Franklin Park Zoo with a group of gorillas who could not sign, the first non-signing gorillas that Grandma Gorilla had ever met. She became pregnant, had baby gorillas, but never became a part of the community.   If you see an old gorilla dragging around a blanket, that's Grandma.  She needs her blankie for comfort because she sure doesn't feel comfortable with the gorilla talk going on around her.