From YouTube Channel KokoFlix:
Koko got her birthday wish this past July 4th, as not only did one kitten come to visit, but a whole litter. Koko fell in love with one, and the other fell in love with her. Koko has adopted these two kittens into her family, and it has energized her world.
Not only have Koko’s maternal and play instincts kicked in, but she is signing more to her caregivers and generating new content everyday that can be used by The Gorilla Foundation to create empathy fro great apes. This can have significant benefits to both endangered free-living great apes and those in captive environments, by encouraging the development of 2-way communication with their caregivers (which Koko has had since she was a baby).
The Gorilla Foundation is now considering a multimedia sequel to the classic book, Koko’s Kitten, which has already reached millions of children worldwide, and has the power to motivate millions more to learn how to make the world a better place for all of its conscious inhabitants.
So sweet!
From Koko.org:
The Scientific goals of project KoKo
The original goal of Project Koko was to see if it was possible to teach gorillas sign language and, if so, how much we could learn about their cognitive abilities through direct communication. This goal, which to a large extent has been achieved, has evolved to include other forms of communication, and the focus has shifted from pure scientific inquiry to producing benefits for great ape welfare, education, and conservation, using scientifically validated methods.
You can support The Gorilla Foundation mission of Conservation through Communication by visiting http://www.koko.org.