It's a tale as old as time.
After 10 months of training, Lindsey Costello decided to visit the Louisville Zoo on her last day of leave.
"You're not allowed to have any animals in a training facility "” or at a training command, being a student," said Costello. "I went home on leave, and the first thing I wanted to do was, I just wanted to be surrounded by animals. Because I love animals so, so much. So on my last day home I'm like, "˜Hey, let's go to the Zoo! That's the best place to see animals, right?'"
The military trainee was part of the Navy's newest behavioral Health Technicians.
When she decided to visit the gorilla exhibit and that's where the magic happened.
The 19 year-old sat down next to the glass at the zoo's gorilla exhibit and started showing pictures and videos on her smartphone to the animals.
Continue to the next page to see what happened next.
Jelani is an 18 year-old Western Lowland gorilla, who has a reputation for interacting with zoo visitors.
"He loves to look at cell phone videos interacting with the public and a lot of times if you show him a video, he'll come over and hang out," Jill Katka, the Assistant Mammal Curator at the Louisville Zoo, told WDRB in 2015. "When he is bored with the picture, he'll shake his hand, sometimes look away and he's very clear when it's time to move on to the next one. He really prefers pics of animals and especially of apes and monkeys. He also likes to look at pictures of people."
None of the other gorillas have the same fascination with technology. Jelani is special.
"Jelani is a very relaxed, social individual," Katka told CBS News. "When people see Jelani sitting in his habitat, and deciding whether to 'people watch' those going by, his charisma and intelligence are clear."
Jelani's obsession with photos and videos began at a young age. When he was at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, he fell and suffered an injury that required short-term medical intervention.
As part of his recovery he was shown books and videos to keep him occupied. When he was transferred to the Louisville Zoo in 2002, staff and volunteers continues to show him pictures, a routine that he grew to love.
"When I walked into the gorilla exhibit ... I looked and I saw this lady holding a phone and the gorilla was right there next to her, watching it," Costello told WDRB.
The woman offered to let Costello in on the action, handing her the phone to use and then snapping Costello's photo with Jelani.
"She was like, "˜Hey do you want to do this?' And I'm like, "˜Of course, like oh my gosh!' So she handed me her phone and I just sat there and I showed it videos. And as I was showing it the videos on her phone "” it was videos of baby gorillas "” she was telling me that if you turn the phone away from him, that he'll stretch out to try to look at it. And I tried it and it actually happened."
Surprisingly the giant primate stared at video after video of baby gorillas for nearly 20 minutes.
This wasn't the gorillas first time interacting with zoo patrons, so he knew exactly how to get what he wanted.
"If you stay on a video for too long, or like a picture for too long, and he wants to go to the next one, he'll raise up his arm and swipe it over," she said.
While he had done this before, this was Costello's first experience being this close with wildlife.
"I have never done anything like this in my life," Costello said. "It was always just something I figured only happen in movies."
She further commented on Instagram where she has acquired a new set of animal-loving fans, "It was such an amazing experience for me and I'm so blessed I got to share some happiness around the world! God bless."
