We call gorillas 'the great apes'. Koko may have been the greatest of them all. If you're not familiar with Koko, take the time to look her up on YouTube, and study how amazing she was. She was adopted by humans at a very early age and raised in a protected environment for study. In the decades that followed, she completely changed the way we think of the relationship between apes and humans.
Koko was taught sign language, and never stopped learning. By the time of her death, she could both understand - and respond to - over 1500 separate signs. She could also understand spoken words, even though she wasn't able to respond the same way. Through Koko, we now know that not only do gorillas have a sense of self, they also have preferences, dislikes, aspirations, and dreams. Koko bridged the gap between our species and hers and will be sadly missed. She passed away peacefully in her sleep, aged 46.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.