As the world mourns the death of Koko the Gorilla, who mastered American sign language and personally made many friends in show business, one of those friends, Betty White, is mourning the loss.
The “Golden Girls” star, 96, posted a note to her Twitter account showing a photo of her with the gorilla and a heartfelt parting message.
“I treasure every minute we spent together #koko,” she wrote.
As Variety notes, Koko had many celebrity friends and considered White among them, often watching episodes of the “Golden Girls,” of which she was a cast member for its run between 1985 and 1992. White first met Koko in 2004. At the time, she was on the board of directors of the Gorilla Foundation where Koko lived.
The gorilla previously met and shared a special bond with actor Robin Williams. The duo first met in 2001 and her caretakers claim that she seemed visibly upset when her caretakers signed news of Williams’ suicide to her in 2014.
As previously reported, The Gorilla Foundation said the western lowland gorilla died in her sleep at the foundation&apos;s preserve in California&apos;s Santa Cruz Mountains on Tuesday. She was 46.