CHCI had five chimpanzees: Washoe, Moja, Dar, Tatu, and Loulis.
Washoe was the matriarch and the only one born in the wild. The others were born either in medical or research labs. All of the chimpanzees were raised as deaf human children by their caregivers and were taught sign language to see if they could communicate. Washoe was the first chimpanzee to acquire human language. Loulis was the only chimpanzee not cross fostered - he was rescued from a medical laboratory where he was born to a mother who had spikes in her head for some kind of research. She was unable to care for Loulis and so he was adopted by Washoe at 10 months old after her own two babies died. Washoe taught Loulis to sign, making Loulis the first non-human to acquire human language from another non-human.
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| Washoe and her newborn son, Sequoyah, who died at two months old of a staph infection. |
There's a story of Washoe giving one of her caregivers the cold shoulder after the caregiver was gone for several weeks after suffering a miscarriage. Upon her return, Washoe's caregiver apologized to Washoe and signed, "I'm sorry, Washoe. My baby died." Washoe looked at her caregiver, looked down and then signed "cry" and traced her finger down her caregivers face as though she were tracing a tear. It became apparent how much the chimpanzees understood - and Washoe had lost her own two babies, so she very much understood.
Moja died in 2002 and Washoe died in 2007. Six months ago, Dar died very suddenly and unexpectedly. Friends of Washoe had planned to bring more chimpanzees to CHCI but the building needed upgrades and repairs before that happened. Last week it was decided that the remaining chimpanzees, Tatu and Loulis, would be moved to Fauna Sanctuary in Montreal, Quebec. This was decided in the best interest of the chimpanzees since they ideally needed to be in large groups because they are so social and it would take too long to bring new chimpanzees to CHCI. Although it's in their best interest, it's incredibly devastating for my university, my town, and their caregivers here to have grown so close to them.
I decided that I would no longer put off seeing a chimposium, so yesterday I went. It was beautiful and like nothing I'd ever experienced. They showed videos of baby Washoe learning to sign and how when one of her caregivers pretended to cry, Washoe ran to her signing hug/love to comfort her. It was fascinating and so touching. I cried. After a 30 minute "class", we went to see the chimpanzees in their enclosures. They had just finished lunch and were sleepy, I think. Tatu came to check us out, but was completely disinterested in talking to us. When we switched over to Loulis, he was just laying around on one of his climbing platforms but would sign. He kept signing his name, which is an "L" sign placed on the tip of the nose - it's an adaptation of the sign for "bug" that Washoe gave him. He also would sign "that" a lot, and appeared to be smiling. At one point he looked at me and signed his name and then signed "that" at my shoes - presumably because he liked them.
Selfishly, I'm sad that they're leaving, even though it's the best for them. I wish I had gone to many more chimposiums to see them more. I am taking my daughters next weekend...I'd take my son but I don't think he'd sit still for the class. They are going to a great place, though, and the director and one of her assistants worked with the chimpanzees at CHCI many years ago, and I'm glad they're going to someone who at least knows them.
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