Animals in the (tech) news

CNET has a weird but delightful rundown of animal geeks. They're critters that have played some role in the march of science and technology through the years. The list includes the first chimp in space, Pavlov's dog, Dolly the sheep, and Koko.

Koko is the gorilla who inspired the talking ape in Michael Crichton's novel Congo. It's believed that Koko can communicate using 1,000 American Sign Language hand gestures and understand 2,000 English words.

Koko has apparently demonstrated original thought. Her trainer cites examples where the gorilla has combined two disparate descriptive terms into a new one. For example, Koko used the words 'finger' and 'bracelet' to describe a ring. Debate rages over the extent of Koko's understanding, however, and bizarrely the gorilla has been the subject of lawsuits in which handlers have alleged sexual harrassment by the creature.