On her 44th birthday last July, Koko the lowland gorilla had a visit from a litter of kittens. In a fascinating, humbling and obscenely adorable video, we see Koko play with the litter, including her two adopted kittens, Ms Black and Ms Grey.
Koko the gorilla has practically become a celebrity for her amazing displays of intelligence and ability to communicate. It's claimed that she knows over 1,000 words in modified version of American sign language and understands 2,000 words of spoken English.
Koko has had a pretty amazing life. She was originally loaned to a young PhD student called Francine "Penny" Patterson, who is still her trainer today, for a doctoral research on the linguistic abilities of lowland gorillas. Since then she’s inspired novels, films and been the subject of countless documentaries. She even became pals with the late and eternally great Robin Williams in 2001.
The video acts as demonstration of Koko’s high emotional intelligence, as well as her famous ability to communicate. It’s also fucking adorable.