Koko is the famous gorilla at a sanctuary near San Francisco she knows over 1,000 different words in sign language and understands about 2,000 words in English.
A lot of people heard about her for the first time in 1984, after she asked for a kitten, and got one for her birthday. A photo of her holding it made the cover of “National Geographic”.
Unfortunately the kitten escaped less than six months later, and got hit by a car. But she got a new kitten a year later named it “Smokey” and it lived with her for almost 20 years before it died of old age.
After that, she got to visit with kittens a few times in 2010. But for her 44th birthday this year, she got two new ones she’ll get to keep as pets again.
Her birthday was back on July 4th, but the people who work with her just posted a video of her picking them out. They gave her a box with a half-dozen kittens in it, and let her decide the ones she liked.