99.4%

Pan troglodytes (cool scientific name, huh?)
As you can tell I'm on a, how do primates deal with death?, kick. I watched a Nature episode a long time ago where a mother Chimpanzee carried around her baby for weeks after it had died. I'll never get that image out of my head. I try not to force my humancentricness onto animals, but since Chimpanzees are so close to us it is hard not to wonder. Humans and Chimpanzees share 99.4% of their genetic makeup.

Here are some conversations with Koko. This snippet was interesting.

One day Koko was having a conversation with Research Assistant Maureen Sheehan.

MS: Where do gorillas go when they die?
Koko: Comfortable hole bye.
MS: When do gorillas die?
K: Trouble, old.
MS: How do gorillas feel when they die, happy, sad, afraid?
K: Sleep.