Our genetic cousins, like chimps and gorillas, are so similar to us that sometimes it seems

like they get open their mouth and start engaging in conversation.

So many of us are thrilled to have learned that a few have been taught sign language.

Thus their human friends are gifted with that rare privilege of having intelligent conversation

with a member of another species.

Well, how would you feel if this all turned out to be completely fake?

The Apes who learned sign language are coming right up on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

The Apes who learned sign language.

In June of 2018, the famous gorilla Coco died of natural causes.

Coco had become famous around the world for her incredible ability to speak in sign language.

Coco wrote books.

She raised kittens.

Coco developed friendships with visiting celebrities.

Coco would tell jokes and be silly.

Coco would hear things on the news, feel sad, and express her sadness, all using sign language.

But it turns out that the field of ape linguistics has virtually evaporated.

What evidence there is that Apes might have been able to sign comes to us not from the academic literature,

but only from the mass media.

Feel good stories written for the people, apparently, devoid of much scientific validity.

Today we're going to point our skeptical eye at the field of Apes who speak in sign language.

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