The third book written by Eugene Linden about the ape-language experiments, Silent Partners tells the rather depressing story of a scientific era that began with the highest of hopes and ended in a dismal snarl of ambiguity and recrimination. The book takes a special look at the fluctuating fates of the simian “partners” and how their lives spiraled downhill when their human cousins’ interest in them waned.
The sign language experiments initially appeared a great success. Washoe, the first chimp to be taught, appeared to comprehend the meaning of words and to use them appropriately. She even seemed capable of combining the terms she had been taught in new, meaningful ways.
But the experiments soon attracted a rash of criticism. Some critics asserted that the animals were merely unconsciously picking up on the non-verbal cues the humans relayed to them. One of the critics had tried to teach sign to a chimp named Nim, decided that his pupil had not really learned, and called all such studies into question.
As the experiments became mired in seemingly intractable controversy other things happened which spelled trouble for the signing chimps. One was the election of Ronald Reagan. His fabled relationship with Bonzo was fine but his budget cuts meant less money for chimp behavioral studies. Another development which boded ill for chimp-human relationship was that the animals in the experiments grew up. And, as Linden notes tellingly, their keepers made an unsettling discovery: “they were neither people nor domestic animals.” Their enormous physical strength and energy made them increasingly difficult–and expensive–to care for. There was also the added danger of lawsuits because of the simian proclivity to biting people, taking off fingers with some frequency.
All of these factors led to harsher conditions for the chimps. Their cages became more restrictive, with the use of heavy leashes and cattle prods a sad part of their everyday lives. The signing chimps ended up being dispersed, some to a highly uncertain “rehabilitation” to African forests, others to the dullness of medical studies which, while not the sort of “terminal” study which ends in the animal’s death so its cadaver can be studied, are a far cry indeed from the individual attention and stimulation received as part of language experiments. No longer stars or petted princesses, the chimps can be forgiven if they mourn their close relationship to the relatives who built them up just to drop them flat.
