Why Did a Gorilla Ask for a Kitten?

[DRAFT] Koko the gorilla learned over 1,000 signs. She asked for a kitten. She mourned when it died. She told researchers she was sad: "Bad, sad, bad."

For Jane Goodall and others who worked alongside great apes, these moments weren't just data. They were reminders that the capacity for connection — for love, grief, joy — is older and wider than we imagined.

Optimism often begins where certainty ends. When we stop assuming we already know what's possible in another being, we create space for something extraordinary.