RIP Washoe

[trientalis]

Sign-language chimp dies at 42 (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003985890_webchimp31m.html)

Washoe, the chimp who learned sign language, has passed away at age 42. I didn't know chimps lived that long. Are they still conducting studies like that or have we given up on teaching human languages to non-human species?

[Chris Porter]

Not so much teaching chimps as trying to decide if the chimps that have been taught really are using human syntax. There's gorilla and bonobo research still ongoing. I don't know of any new research, but I don't keep abreast of that field. (I have interest in animal cognition, but generally read textbooks on that subject, not journals.)