Chimpanzees
can learn sign language
By Ruth Estrada
On-line Forty-Niner
When
Roger Sheridan Fouts first applied for project
Weashoes in 1967, his interview with Dr.
Alan Gardner did not go as well as he had
hoped.
Fouts,
who holds a doctorate and is author of “Next
of Kin,” a book about chimpanzees using
sign language, visited Cal State Long Beach
earlier this month to talk about the project.
Gardner
and his wife, Beatrice, were working on
a project to teach American Sign Language
to a young chimpanzee named Washoe.
Fouts
said that the interview was going badly
and that Gardner was not impressed with
him at all.
“When
the interview ended he offered me a consolation
prize, to see Washoe,” Fouts said. “When
Washoe spied us across the yard she came
running toward us. When she reached the
four-foot high fence she leapt over it and
sailed right into my arms, not Garder’s
arms.”
Fouts
said that Gardner then hired him to be one
of Washoe’s human companions on the project.
“He
said that if Washoe was going to learn to
talk using signs, she would have to have
interesting things to talk about and good
friends to talk to,” Fouts said.
“I would have to say that Washoe chose well,
because after 30 years we are still good
friends.”
Washoe
is the first nonhuman candidate to acquire
a human language. The project now consists
of three other chimpanzees, Moja,
Tatu and Loulis, (Washoes’ adopted son).
Fouts
said in the 1970s many scientists believed
that cultural transmission of language to
future generations was unique only to the
human species.
“There
was a lot of evidence from Jane Goodall
and other ethologist that wild chimpanzees
learn tool making and other skills by observing
their parents,” Fouts said. “In fact Washoe
learned ASL the same way as my own children
learned English, by watching us and interacting
with us.”
Fouts
said that one day he and his graduate students
also noticed that Washoe was giving other
forms of communications besides sign language.
“Washoe
signed that she wanted an Oreo cookie and
we all agreed that she was asking for an
Oreo cookie,” Fouts said. “But then she
wanted a saltine cracker, and she started
making her own gestures. Some of them were
sweet and gooey, sweet and dry, or square
or round.”
Fouts
also said that another important project
was working with a 10 month old baby chimpanzee
named Loulis.
“Loulis
acquired his signs from his adoptive mother
Washoe and the other chimpanzees,” Fouts
said. “Thus, becoming the first chimpanzee
to acquire a human language from chimpanzees
thus demonstrating the ability of the chimpanzee
to culturally transmit a language across
generations.”
Fouts
cleared the record by saying that chimpanzees
are not monkeys.
“The
chimpanzee is human kind’s closest living
relative and a member of the great ape family,”
Fouts said. “Chimps share 98.4 percent of
human DNA.”
Fouts
also said that a chimpanzee’s mother-infant
bond is very similar to a human’s mother-infant
bond.
“The
life of pregnancy among chimpanzees is 8
months, and they will nurse typically for
about 4 years,” Fouts said. “They will also
generally stay with mom until age 10.”
A
chimpanzee’s life cycle also is very similar
to the human race, Fouts said.
“Puberty
we think is around 9, 10 or 11 years of
age,” Fouts said. “Maximum height is around
15 years of age, maximum growth is around
21 years of age, and maximum, estimated
life span, we know is over 60 years of age.”
Fouts
sadly said that today, chimpanzees are considered
an endangered species. He also said that
at the turn of the century 5 million chimpanzees
were living in the wild and today their
total population is 175,000.
About
20 to 30 students and faculty members gathered
together to hear Fouts Lecture on chimpanzees
and ASL.
Professor
Misty Jafse was among the attendees who
came to hear Fouts’ lecture on chimpanzees.
“I
am an anthropologist and I teach in the
linguistics department here on campus,”
Jafse said. “This is something that I have
taught about and it is just fascinating
to see and hear Fouts in person.”
Eutihia
Megas, a CSULB student that attended the
lecture said that she has always been concerned
for animals.
“I
think that animals are absolutely amazing,”
Megas said. “People disregard animal
communication as if it isn’t relevant to
humanity as a whole.”
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