Zimbabwe - A severely traumatized baby monkey named William was rescued after his mother had been killed. Under the care of the Twala Trust, William struck up an unexpected bond with an adorable kitten named Marble!

The baby cat had also lost his mother and had already been living at the Twala Trust for two weeks.

"When William arrived, he was deeply traumatized from the loss of his mum. He was tiny and underweight and terrified. During his first bottle feed, Marble came straight up to him and began purring and washing his face, and he held onto her fur while he drank," Sarah Carter (53), a trustee of the shelter, told Newsweek.

Marble had been found in a parking lot two weeks earlier with two male siblings, so even though the cat was surrounded by her own kind, she was immediately attracted to William.

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"He curled up against her and made the little crooning noise that baby monkeys make to their mums, and they have been inseparable ever since," Carter said of the animal orphans' first meeting.

An Instagram video documenting the unexpected bond, which went online at the end of 2023, has since received around 15 million views.

In the clip, the monkey and the kitten cuddle together warmly, with the little primate even giving kisses to the fur nose.

"Marble is always close to William; she seems to feel very protective of him. She washes him and they like to nap together," Carter said.

The touching story of the unlikely duo has since received more than 735,000 likes on Instagram, with more videos featuring the cute animals following shortly after.

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But this friendship won't last forever, as William is due to be released back into the wild at some point.

Marble, on the other hand, can hope to be placed with a loving family.