Chimpanzee Who Knew Sign Language Dies

[The Straight Story]

Chimpanzee Who Knew Sign Language Dies

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Washoe, a female chimpanzee said to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept.

Washoe, who first learned a bit of American Sign Language in a research project in Nevada, had been living on Central Washington University's Ellensburg campus since 1980. Her keepers said she had a vocabulary of about 250 words, although critics contended Washoe and some other primates learned to imitate sign language, but did not develop true language skills.

She died Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute on the campus. She was born in Africa about 1965.

She was taken to the veterinary hospital at Washington State University on Wednesday for a necropsy. Her memorial will be Nov. 12.


http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/S/SIGNING_CHIMPANZEE_DIES?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-01-00-29-45

[marmar]

1. The SMART chimp....

The one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue can't even get through a sentence. :dunce:

[truebrit71]

3. ROFL!!!

:rofl:

[thereismore]

2. Bush* died? nt

[Didereaux]

4. I got to see Washoe on campus she was...

AMAZING! I nearly changed majors after watching her signing.

............

[Robbien]

5. The bird who could reason and answer questions also died recently

Hmmmm. The smart ones in the animal kingdom are getting out now while the getting is good.

[Swamp Rat]

6. Oh Washoe!!!

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[aikoaiko]

7. Washoe's ASL communication vocabulary was amazing, but not quite language

Psycholinguists distinguish between the use of symbols, sounds, gestures to communicate and being about to use rules for generating and understanding novel combinations of symbols. Psycholinguists call those rules grammar and they elevate communication to language.

Other animals simply have never shown (or we've been able to detect) the use of grammar in natural or artificially based communication.

[Basileus Basileon]

8. Washoe was very smart, but did not possess language.

Washoe was never able to use it creatively; she was unable to form new sentences and patterns. What she could do was interesting, but not language.