Nim Chimpsky, as seen in Project NimHARRY BENSON
Can a chimpanzee learn language and grammar like humans if it is raised and nurtured by them? No, it’s not the subject of the latest Planet of the Apes film, but Project Nim—a fascinating and provocative documentary about a likeable chimp who found himself the focus of a landmark behavioral psychology experiment in the 1970s.
In November 1973, a 10-day-old chimpanzee called Nim was plucked from his mother in an Oklahoma primate research center, and raised like a child by a team of researchers led by Herbert Terrace, a psychology professor at Columbia University. The researchers invited Nim into their homes, fed him, potty trained him, even taught him sign language and table manners. Nim appeared to take to human care quite well, living a ...
