Saturday, September 3, 2011

Nim, and Other Animals

The latest Planet of the Apes movie, and the documentary Project Nim (NPR story here) have brought research with animals into the spotlight.  The story is about 100 years old.  A Russian scientist raised a chimpanzee at home, and studied it extensively about that long ago.  She was impressed, among other things, by the empathy it showed.  Many studies of trying to teach language to animals have been carried out.  The books Nim Chimpsky and Silent Partners tell about some of the studies.  The late Alex, a parrot, was also studied and cared for.  Many of the scientists doing this work are controversial figures.  Sue Savage-Rumbaugh wrote a scientific paper about primates in captivity with three bonobos.  Janis Carter lived in Africa for several years with Lucy, to help her to adjust back to the semi-wild.  William Lemmon and Roger Fouts found it difficult to work together studying chimpanzees.  There are now a number of healers using animals in treating PTSD for people, and working with animals who have been research subjects.  There are many questions about whether and how animals should be used in research.  The trend is towards understanding the natural methods that the animals use to communicate and cope in their environment.

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