The Mind of the Chimpanr,Ee
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w I i i Article I0 The Mind of the Chimpanr,ee JaneGoodall lr.-,,7ften I have gazed into a chimpan- was quite familiar with chimpanzees in the chimpanzee is more like us than is zee'seyes and wonderedwhat was going thewild. But Lucy, havinggrown up asa any other living creature. There is close on behindthem. I usedto look into Flo's, human child, was like a changeling, her resemblance in the physiology of our sheso old, so wise. What did she remem- essential chimpanzeenessovedaid by the two speciesand genetically, in the struc- ber of her young days? David Greybeard various human behaviours she had ac- ture of the DNA, chimpanzees and hu- had the most beautiful eyes of them all, quired over the years. No longer purely mans differ by only just over one per large and lustrous, set wide apart. They chimp yet eons away from humanity, she cent. This is why medical research uses somehow expressedhis whole personal- was man-made, some other kind of be- chimpanzees as experimental animals ity, his serene self-assurance,his inher- ing. I watched, amazed, as she opened when they need substitutesfor humans in ent dignity-and, from time to time, his the refrigerator and various cupboards, the testing of some drug or vaccine. utter determination to get his way. For a found bottles and a glass, then poured Chimpanzees can be infected with just long time I never liked to look a chim- herself a gin and tonic. She took the about all known human infectious dis- panzee straight in the eye-I assumed drink to the TV, turned the set on, flipped easesincluding those, such as hepatitis B that, as is the case with most primates, from one channel to another then. as and AIDS, to which other non-human this would be interpreted as a threat or at though in disgust, turned it off again. She animals (except gorillas, orangutans and leastas a breach of good manners. No so. selected a glossy magazine from the ta- gibbons) are immune. There ard equally As long as one looks with gentleness, ble and, still canying her drink, settled in striking similarities between humans and without arrogance, a chimpanzee will a comfortable chair. Occasionally, as she chimpanzees in the anatomy and wiring understand, and may even return the leafed through the magazine she identi- of the brain and nervous system, and- look, And then-or such is my fantasy- fied something she saw, using the signs although many scientists have been re- it is as though the eyes are windows into of ASL, the American Sign Language luctant to admit to this-in social behav- the mind. Only the glass is opaque so that used by the deaf. I, of course, did not un- iour, intellectual ability, and the the mystery can never be fully revealed. derstand, but my hostess,Jane Temerlin emotions. The notion of an evolutionary 'mother'), I shall never forget my meeting with (who was also Lucy's trans- continuity in physical strucfure from pre- 'That Lucy, an eight-year-old home-raised lated: dog,' Lucy commented, human ape to modern man has long been chimpanzee.She came and sat beside me pausing at a photo of a small white poo- morally acceptable to most scientists. 'Blue,' on the sofa and, with her face very close dle. She turned the page. she de- That the same might hold good for mind to mine, searchedin my eyes-for what? clared, pointing then signing as she was generally considered an absurd hy- Perhaps she was looking for signs of gazed at a picture of a lady advertising pothesis-particularly by those who mistrust,dislike. or fear, sincemany peo- some kind of soap powder and wearing a used, and often misused, animals in their ple must have been somewhat discon- brilliant blue dress. And finally, after laboratories. It is, after all, convenient to certedwhen, for the first time, they came some vague hand movements-perhaps believe that the creature you are using, face to face with a grown chimpanzee. signed mutterings-'This Lucy's, this while it may react in disturbingly hu- Whatever Lucy read in my eyes clearly mine,' as she closed the magazine and man-like ways, is, in fact, merely a satisfied her for she suddenly put one laid it on her lap. She had just been mindless and, above all, unfeeling, 'dumb'animal. arm round my neck and gave me a gen- taught, Jane told me, the use of the pos- erous and very chimp-like kiss, her sessive pronouns during the thrice When I began my study at Gombe in mouth wide open and laid over mine. I weekly ASL lessonsshe was receiving at 1960it was not pemissible-at leastnot was accepted. the time. in ethological circles-to talk about an For a long time after that encounter I The book written by Lucy's human animal's mind. Only humans had minds. 'father,' was profoundly disturbed. I had been at Maury Temerlin, was entitled Nor was it quite proper to talk about ani- Gombe for about fifteen years then and I Lucy, Growing Up Human. And in fact, mal personality. Of course everyone 51. ANNUALEDITIONS knew that they did have their own unique I had expected my audience to be as fas- circumspect-at least until I had gained characters-everyone who had ever cinated and impressed as I was. I had some credentials and credibility. And owned a dog or other pet was aware of hoped for an exchange of views about Robert gave me wonderful advice on that. But ethologists, striving to make the chimpanzee's undoubted intelli- how best to tie up some of my more re- theirs a 'hard' science, shied away from gence.Instead there was a chill silence, bellious ideas with scientific ribbon. 'You the task of trying to explain such things after which the chairman hastily changed can't know that Fifi was jealous,' objectively. One respected ethologist, the subject. Needless to say, after being had admonishedon one occasion. We ar- 'Why while acknowledging that there was thus snubbed, I was very reluctant to gued a little. And then: don't you 'variability betweenindividual animals,' contributeany comments,at any scien- just say If Fifi were a human child we wrote that it was best that this fact be tific gatherings, for a very long time. would say she wasjealoas.'I did. 'swept under the carpet.' At that time Looking back, I suspect that everyone It is not easy to study emotions even ethological carpets fairly bulged with all was interested, but it was, of course, not when the subjects are human. I know 'anecdote' that was hidden beneath them. permissible to present a mere how I feel if I am sad or happy or angry, How naive I was. As I had not had an as evidence for anything. and if a friend tells me that he is feeling undergraduatescience education I didn't The editorial comments on the fhst sad, happy or angrir, I assume that his realize that animals were not supposedto paper I wrote for publication demanded feelings are similar to mine. But of have personalities, or to think, or to feel that every he or she be replacedwith it, course I cannot know. As we try to come emotions or pain. I had no idea that it and every who be replaced with which. to grips with the emotions of beings pro- would have been more appropriate to as- Incensed, I, in my turn, crossed out the gressively more different from ourselves sign each of the chimpanzees a number .irs and whichs and scrawled back the the task, obviously, becomes increas- rather than a name when I got to know original pronouns. As I had no desire to ingly difficult. If we ascribe human emo- him or her. I didn't realize that it was not carve a niche for myself in the world of tions to non-human animals we itre scientific to discuss behaviour in terms science, but simply wanted to go on liv- accused of being anthropomorphic-a of motivation or purpose. And no one ing among and learning about chimpan- cardinal sin in ethology. But is it so terri- had told me that terms such as childhood zees, the possible reaction of the editor ble? If we test the effect of drugs on and adolescence were uniquely human of the learnedjournal did not trouble me. chimpanzees because they are biologi- phases of the life cycle, culturally deter- In fact I won that round: the paper when cally so similar to ourselves,if we accept mined, not to be used when referring to finally published did confer upon the that there are dramatic similarities in young chimpanzees. Not knowing, I chimpanzees the dignity of their appro- chimpanzee and human brain and ner- freely made use of all those forbidden priate genders and properly upgraded vous system, is it not logical to assume 'thinss' terms and concepts in my initial attempt them from the status of mere to that there will be similarities also in at to describe, to the best of my ability, the essentialBeingness. least the more basic feelings, emotions, amazing things I had observed at Go- However, despite my somewhat tru- moods of the two species? mbe. culent attitude, I did want to learn, and I In fact, all those who have worked I shall never forget the response of a was sensible of my incredible good for- long and closely with chimpanzeeshave group of ethologists to some remarks I tune in being admitted to Cambridge.