On Sunday afternoon, Jeopardy!‘s Instagram page shared an interesting fact about legendary television host Mr. Rogers and his meeting with Koko the gorilla.
Everyone knows their friendly neighbor Fred Rogers, better known to most as the host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Most will remember the educational children’s television series from their childhood. Generations of kids grew up watching Rogers, but evidently, children weren’t the only ones tuning in.
In 1998, Mr. Rogers invited Koko the gorilla to his program. The gorilla was famous for decades beginning in the late ’70s because of her intelligence and gentle nature. Born in the San Francisco Zoo, Koko knew more than 1,000 signs of gorilla sign language. In addition, she understood around 2,000 words of spoken English.
From the time she was born, Koko often watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, so the gorilla was very familiar with the host and his show before they met. Jeopardy! shared a fun fact about the pair meeting that highlighted just how intelligent Koko truly was before she passed away in 2018 at 46 years old.
“TV host Mr. Rogers once paid Koko the gorilla a visit,” Jeopardy! wrote along with a photo of a gorilla. “She untied his shoelaces and took off his shoes like she had seen him do on TV.”
Although July 4th is our nation’s birthday, it also just so happens to be Koko’s as well. So the game show made sure to recognize the famous gorilla as well during the holiday.
“Koko was born 50 years ago #OTD. Do you remember this moment? – with @mental_floss,” Jeopardy! captioned the Instagram post.
‘Jeopardy!’ Celebrates 90th Anniversary of New York City Landmark
While the game show celebrated Koko’s birthday today with the informational post, a couple months ago, Jeopardy! shared a similar post to mark the anniversary of one of America’s most famous buildings.
On May 7, the game show shared a clue pertaining to one of the Jeopardy! questions from that night’s episode. The post is part of their “Beyond The Clue” series, which gives more context to some of the game show’s tougher clues.
The social media page asked its fans to try to figure out what famous building was celebrating its 90th anniversary. The photo said:
“2021 marks the 90th anniversary of this building, which was already the world’s tallest in 1950 when it added a 220-foot TV tower.”
Admittedly, it’s not the most obscure clue Jeopardy! has ever shared. Many trivia fans will have already guessed the Empire State Building. Especially since the Instagram photo has an outline of the iconic structure within it. However, they shared some more information for fans about the building in the caption as well.
“On May 1, 1931, the @empirestatebldg formally opened in Manhattan, New York, becoming the world’s tallest building—a title it would keep for 40 years—at 1,250 feet,” Jeopardy!‘s account wrote.
“Construction on the 102-story building, which features an upper tower originally designed to serve as a mooring station for airships, was completed in a record 410 days. During its initial years of operation, the skyscraper struggled to keep commercial space occupied due to the onset of the Great Depression. However, tourists from all over flocked to the city, just as they do today, to admire the building’s unique design,” they added.
