Project Nim Essay

The progression of humans was a long and lengthy process of advancement by which people originated from their hominin ancestors to intelligent beings. Humans were once merely defenseless and unable to hunt effectively until they discovered a new way of life. The breakthrough of the bipedal and industrial revolution changed the way humans got around and were able to become predators. Humans evolved from quadruped ape-like animals to one of the few animals that use bipedalism. Compared to animals, human language is more intricate and used all the time. In the documentary Project Nim, researcher Herbert Terrace and his team raised a chimpanzee and determined if the chimp could be subjected to developing subtle language skills. The documentary

goes on to explain what happen to the chimp throughout its life and the effect of the research project. Franz Kafka's "A Report for an Academy" is a story of a new man who once was an ape. Due to his captivity in a sailing ship, the ape watched and learned how to be a man from the crewmen. This raises the question on if animals can be programmed to act like humans or will they always go back to their primitive ways. Both these stories claim the idea that animals can adapt to language and have the ability to be almost like us. However, the ape in Kafka is successful in his transformation, where as the chimpanzee is not. Does this mean that apes are not easily willing to change because their natural instincts will never be gone truly? Or is it a way to escape the ways of human captivity?
Project Nim was a research project that was suppose to provide evidence of primates producing grammatical language through signing.

Nim, the chimpanzee was taken from his mother and placed into the care of Herbert Terrace and his team. They raised Nim as if he was a child and there he learned sign language. As expected, Nim learned how to sign but couldn’t sign grammatically-correct sentences. He even learned the mastery skills of manipulation and used it during his lessons in the classroom. The team worked with Nim for a while until there were too accidents. Occasionally when he didn’t get his way, Nim would bite and cause members serious injuries. The chimp still had his primal dive and was not able to let it go. As he grew up, he had urges to establish his male dominance to anyone around him. Even later in Nim's life, he was still able to sign and communicate with

humans.
Although, Nim is an example of an animal still intact with his aggressive-animal side, Franz Kafka's story of the Report for an Academy is a fictional depiction of an ape becoming human. Due to a hunter capturing the ape, he is forced from his African home to inhabit a cage on a long voyage on sea. Longing for freedom, he studies some of the crew members and their habits. He discovers that his imitations of the humans are actually very similar and quite true. Upon arriving onto land, the ape is left with the decision to dedicate his life to being a man or going back to being an ape. Kafka makes it very clear that the ape did not become a man because he wanted to, but because he had to. This story spotlights that a non-human primate can adapt to the human behaviors upon observing and practicing behaviors. Although humans did not voluntarily teach the ape human behaviors, the ape's intelligence was still adequate to comprehend.
Another example of non-human primates Koko the talking gorilla, proves that this is not a definite case. Koko was taught to sign by Francine Patterson who was a researcher of an experiment testing sign language to non-human primates. This talking gorilla learned a thousand words and is able to understand two thousand words. She is capable of using her knowledge of words to communicate with people using sentences. As with most animals and trainers, Koko and Francine had a very close relationship with each other. Koko would have conversations with Francine and listen to almost all of the commands she would sign to her. She was not an aggressive gorilla, but, a fun, lovable one. She even had the pleasure of meeting Robin Williams and Leonardo DiCaprio. The actions and life of Koko the gorilla gives truth that non-human primates are capable of obtaining English language.
With stories, fictional or nonfictional, it is fair to say that non-human primates can adapt to new behaviors like humans.

It has been proven that non-human primates such as apes and chimpanzees can learn the behaviors of language and chores. Several experimental chimps and apes are trained to grasp our language and produce it by signing and perform daily chores like sweeping and tidying up. Both Nim and Koko were taught by their trainers to gain the knowledge to communicate through sign language. Although, both of these non-human primates embraced language skills at an early age, the ape in Kafka's story educated himself during the middle of his life. All three of them were able to observe and still maintain the knowledge of human-like behavior. Nim and Koko's trainers interacted with them and that could be a reason to why they learned. Neither of them were ever tempted to run away from the care of their trainers. Throughout their human interactions, they did not lose the connection they have with their animal side, unlike the fictional ape in Kafka's story. The research gathered from Herbert Terrace and Francine Patterson showed the world just how quickly non-human primates could learn and uphold a conversation, similar to humans'. The willingness of both the animals confirm that they are prone to change directions from their normal behavior. Maybe it was the constant affection and treats that non-human primates enjoyed that made them be subjective to learn the human

behavior of language without wanting to go back to their primal instincts or original homes.