Massimo Boston@massimo_boston

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Koko the gorilla and All Ball

The part of Koko's story that stays with me isn't the strength. It's how careful she was with something so much smaller than her. Here's the setup: Koko was a gorilla who learned to communicate with signs. In 1984 she was given a kitten, and she named it All Ball. Nobody handed her a toy, and she didn't act like it was one. She held the kitten, cuddled it, looked after it. Gentle the whole way through. That pairing between a huge ape and a tiny cat ended up fascinating people across the world. It was held up as a way of seeing into the emotional lives of great apes, which is a lot to hang on one friendship, but the case got made. Then All Ball died in an accident. What Koko reportedly did afterward pointed toward real attachment, not just habit. What sticks is the tenderness sitting right beside all that power. So I keep coming back to the same question: do animals feel love and grief in ways that mirror our own? ❤️

3h

Massimo Boston@massimo_boston

Follow

Koko the gorilla and All Ball

The part of Koko's story that stays with me isn't the strength. It's how careful she was with something so much smaller than her. Here's the setup: Koko was a gorilla who learned to communicate with signs. In 1984 she was given a kitten, and she named it All Ball. Nobody handed her a toy, and she didn't act like it was one. She held the kitten, cuddled it, looked after it. Gentle the whole way through. That pairing between a huge ape and a tiny cat ended up fascinating people across the world. It was held up as a way of seeing into the emotional lives of great apes, which is a lot to hang on one friendship, but the case got made. Then All Ball died in an accident. What Koko reportedly did afterward pointed toward real attachment, not just habit. What sticks is the tenderness sitting right beside all that power. So I keep coming back to the same question: do animals feel love and grief in ways that mirror our own? ❤️

3h