posted                   

quote:

---

Nim Chimpsky, named after the great linguist Noam Chomsky, was the first chimpanzee to learn American sign language. Nim became famous, and was the subject of numerous books and television specials. But when the researchers had no more use for him, they opted to sell him to a hepatitis research lab, where he would have been the subject of painful experiments and eventually killed.

---

Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                   

quote:

---

There may have been more, but we are aware of 3 full siblings: Ally, Onan, and Tania.

---

Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                   

quote:

---

I "inherited" part of Nim's lab space while doing my doctoral work at Columbia University. It was in the basement of Schermerhorn Hall and I got the part with the two-way mirror and the large room behind it. I ran rats in a radial arm maze.

The researcher who ran the Nim project was a former student of B.F. Skinner and he became a believer in animal cognition as a result of working with Nim, or so the story goes.

---

Bob,

that's my recollection as well. The Nim project claimed to have debunked actual use of language by Nim - and, by extension, other chimps. As behaviorists, this was contrary to what they expected the results to be. (As it turns out, though, the jury is still hotly debating what "language" is and how much apes use)

I remember reading a news account when it Nim's fate (temporary) as a hepatitis research subject became public. The reaction from - I think it was Terrace - was along the lines of:

"I said he didn't have language. I never said he wasn't intelligent."

A final note - I hope they cleaned the space really well prior to your moving in. Chimps are notoriously resistant to toilet training!

Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003  |  IP: Logged |