Baby heartbreak of the 'talking' gorilla too human for her own good: Astonishing story of Koko's inseparable bond with her trainer... and the desire she cannot fulfil

Never-before-seen pictures and footage of gorilla Koko and her trainer Penny Patterson who met in San Francisco in 1971 are set to form part of a new BBC documentary. 


The clips and images were taken by Dr Ron Cohn, who filmed more than 2,000 hours of footage showing how Ms Paterson and 300-pound Koko formed their incredible relationship. When Ms Paterson first met a newborn Koko at the San Francisco Zoo, she started an experiment to see if she could teach the gorilla sign language. The animal then began to master hundreds of signs, and could communicate her thoughts to her keeper.