Nim Chimpsky was, perhaps, the most qualified
linguist of his
race. The fact that he was one of the only linguists of his race detracts very little from the
significance of his
accomplishments.
Nim Chimpsky, named jokingly after linguist and
anarchist Noam Chomsky, was born in
1973 to
chimpanzees
Pan and Carolyn, and died March 10,
2000 (of
natural causes). In the interim of those two periods, he participated in Project Nim, a
scientific attempt to teach a
chimpanzee to use
language in the same fashion as
humans.
Though, obviously, chimpanzees cannot
vocalize human speech, Nim was taught
American Sign Language in a controlled setting where he was raised with a human
family as would be a
child. Nim was, after four years, able to use
sign language with a large degreee of
ease and
clarity. When
funding for the project ceased in
1977, he was sent to a
research facility to aid in testing of a
hepatitis vaccine, but the efforts of the late
Cleveland Amory, head of a number of
animal rights organizations, in combination with the
publicity spawned by Project Nim allowed Nim to be returned to
UO, from where he was retired to the Black Beauty Ranch in
1983.
His
final words on March 9,
2000 noted that "all the
animals were well, that the
sun was
shining, and that it was a
beautiful time at the Ranch."(TFFA) He
died the next day. Reportedly, it was
raining.