Chimp, believed to speak sign language, dies at 42
Washoe was acclaimed as the first nonhuman to acquire human language.
SPOKANE, Wash. - Washoe, a chimpanzee believed to be the first nonhuman to acquire human language, died Tuesday of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept. She was about 42 years old.
Washoe made headlines in her youth - first with her apparent ability to communicate using American Sign Language, and then by teaching it to other chimpanzees in captivity.
She first learned a bit of ASL in a research project in Nevada, eventually building up a vocabulary of about 250 words.
Born in Africa about 1965, she had been living since 1980 on Central Washington University's Ellensburg campus. Washoe died there Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, cofounders of the Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute on the campus.
She was taken to the veterinary hospital at Washington State University yesterday for a necropsy.
A memorial will be Nov. 12.
"Washoe was an emissary, bringing us a message of respect for nature," Mary Lee Jensvold, assistant director of the nonprofit institute, said yesterday.
The Fouts went to Central Washington University from Oklahoma in 1980 to create a home for Washoe and other chimps. They were well-known on campus.
"The entire CWU community and the Ellensburg community are feeling the loss of our friend, Washoe, one of our daughters," said university president Jerilyn S. McIntyre.
Three younger chimps who learned sign language from Washoe remain at the institute, university spokeswoman Becky Watson said. They are Tatu, 31, Loulis, 29, and Dar, 31.
Washoe was the institute's only chimp born in Africa and was the matriarch of its chimpanzee family.
In Roger Fouts' book, Next of Kin, eminent primate researcher Jane Goodall noted the importance of the work with Washoe.
"Roger, through his ongoing conversations with Washoe and her extended family, has opened a window into the cognitive workings of a chimpanzee's mind that adds new dimension to our understanding," Goodall said.
Washoe was named for Washoe County, Nev., where she lived with Allen and Beatrix Gardner of the University of Nevada, Reno, from 1966 to 1970.
In 1967, the Gardners established Project Washoe to teach the chimp ASL. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to imitate vocal languages had failed.
Roger Fouts was a graduate student of the Gardners.
For Washoe to be considered "reliable" on a sign, it had to be seen by three different observers in three separate instances. Then it had to be seen 15 days in a row to be added to her sign list.
Still, there was controversy over whether the chimp was really using American Sign Language.
Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker has contended the notion that Washoe was the first nonhuman to acquire a human language was without scientific support.