When a mother has a baby, a special bond is formed. It doesn’t matter if the mother and child are human or of a different species. In almost all cases, a maternal instinct kicks in which ensures that the child, human or animal, is well cared for by the one who gave birth to them.

In a video, a human and a gorilla were able to share a special moment as mothers.

Mothers share a special bond with other moms

When a mom meets another mom, they might talk about their children and some of the challenges that they’ve faced raising them. But what if that mom is a gorilla? How would you even relate as a human to an animal?

Well, according to the video, motherhood has no boundaries and is a role that can be understood by all, even animals.

A video taken at the zoo

In the video, Emmelina Austin and her husband, Michael, had taken their 1-month-old baby Canyon to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, Massachusetts. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect what happened as they stood at the gorilla enclosure.

Kiki makes herself known to Emmelina

As they watched, Kiki, a gorilla who lives at the zoo, walks over to look at Canyon through the glass. Mesmerized by the human child, it is at this point that Emmelina and Kiki share a special moment.

As human and gorilla mom stand there, Kiki gestures at Emmelina. Maybe she is trying to let her know that the two share something in common.

The real reason for Kiki’s excitement

This back and forth continues for a minute or two, the two mothers seeming to be having a special moment related to their roles as mothers. Then, as the three stand there, Kiki’s baby walks over to see what is going on.

While only six months older than Canyon, Kiki’s 7-month-old gorilla baby named Pablo is already able to walk. He is curious about what his mom is making such a big fuss about.

“[Kiki] was talking to us with her hands. Pablo even pushed his face up to the glass at one point and they watched him, noses touching, together. My wife and I both had tears in our eyes,” Michael told The Dodo.

It truly was a special moment

As they both stand there looking through the glass at Canyon, some of the other gorillas gather around to see what is going on. Chances are, the gorillas at the zoo seldom had an opportunity like this to bond with the humans observing them.

It just goes to show that humans and animals aren’t all that different, especially when it comes to loving and caring for their young. Others online thought so too as the video has been viewed over 2.4 million times on YouTube.

You can watch more of this beautiful interaction between a human and gorilla mother in the video below.

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Sources: YouTube – Michael Austin, The Dodo