For many people, life requires a purpose— and for most of us, that purpose is our children. In the grand scheme of things, there’s an innate human desire to be remembered and to leave something behind— and again, for most of us, that remnant is our children. Now, of course, not everyone wants to be a mother. Some people chose to adopt, while others take on the responsibility of a pet— and when Koko, an iconic Western lowland gorilla, wasn’t able to have babies, she opted for a kitty instead.
Now, in case you aren’t aware, Koko is a bit of a celebrity when it comes to the primate world.
Koko was born on July 4th, 1971, and shortly thereafter, was sent to stay with Penny Paterson, an American psychologist who was studying the possibility of complex primate language.
Since being sent to Penny more than 40 years ago, the woman has now taught Koko how to sign more than 1,000 words and claims the gorilla can understand another 2,000 more.
“What can be startling is that because she’s been brought up with people, she has similar mannerisms, similar gestures, and you do feel that there’s a familiarity you wouldn’t normally expect to have with an animal,” Bridget Appleby, documentarian, explained.
“You feel like you’re on the same level of communication, even without the sign language.”
Koko doesn’t have the language skills of an adult human. She uses no grammar and syntax and her understanding has been likened to that of a younger child.
Despite this fact, however, Koko’s caregivers had no trouble understanding when, during the holidays of 1983, Koko approached them asking for a kitty cat.
Koko looved babies and had never had the opportunity to be a mother. Staff tried to placate her with stuffed, life-like animals, but the gorilla definitely wasn’t satisfied. She reportedly would not play with the toys and repeatedly signed the word “sad”.
It was clear Koko would only be satisfied with a real kitten, and for her birthday in July of 1984, the maternal gorilla finally got her wish.
Staff at the Gorilla Foundation allowed Koko to pick out a kitten from a litter that had been abandoned. Although she fell in love with all the babies, in the end, she chose a tailless, grey Manx kitten and named the tiny creature “All Ball”.
As you can see below, Koko cared for All Ball as if she was a baby gorilla. She cuddled the kitten, tried to nurse it, and was extremely loving and gentle.
“They would play chase with each other and she [Koko] would hold it and pet it,” Ron Cohn, a Gorilla Foundation biologist, told the LA Times.
“The cat reacted to her as she would a human, but she was pretty independent and would bite Koko or wriggle loose when she got tired of being babied.”
Sadly, one day All Ball escaped from Koko’s enclosure, was hit by a car and passed away. “When we told Koko, she acted like she didn’t hear us for about 10 minutes,” Cohn said. “Then she started whimpering— a distinct hooting sound that gorillas make when they are said. We all started crying together.”
Koko was devasted by the loss of All Ball. Luckily, a few years later, she adopted two more kittens that helped her recover from her grief.
Sadly, cats have a much shorter lifespan than gorillas, and although the kittens spent nearly 20 years with Koko, they eventually passed away due to natural causes.
After the cats’ deaths, Koko would get kitty visits from the Humane Society. Most recently, in 2015, however, the loving, maternal gorilla finally got another baby to call her own.
In the heartwarming video below, you see Koko meeting a litter of homeless kittens. From the beginning, Koko seems to bond with a little grey kitten named Ms. Grey who looks a lot like All Ball. Another kitten, named Ms. Black, is intrigued by the big primate and instantly falls in love.
Koko never got the chance to be a mom, something her caregiver Penny regrets immensely. When asked her biggest regret regarding Koko, the psychologist tearfully revealed it was, “Not giving Koko a baby. She wants to be a mama.”
Thankfully, Koko now has two affectionate “babies” to care for. Ms. Grey and Ms. Black have been adopted by the Gorilla Foundation, and the little family is said to be getting along well.
Penny says, “The fact that Koko can love, that we can love each other even though we’re a different species, really gets people thinking deeply about life. And that’s what we need to do.”
See Koko and her new babies below!
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