- There's an effort underway in New Zealand
to extend fundamental human rights to all Great Apes. In the next few weeks,
legislators in that country may pass an animal welfare bill giving gorillas,
orangatans, chimpanzees and bonobos the right to life and liberty, and
freedom from cruel treatment. And while it seems like a radical idea, advocates
say it's based on solid research that these primates are intelligent, complicated,
social animals who deserve the same protection humans enjoy.
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- "We want to break the species line,"
says Paul Waldau, ethics professor at Tufts University and vice-president
of the Great Ape Project International (GAP). "We want to break the
strangle-hold humans have on these rights.
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- The Great Ape Project wants human rights
extended to non-human Great Apes, like chimps.
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- GAP is supporting the new animal welfare
bill as part of its effort to recognize all Great Apes as complicated enough
creatures to warrant basic human rights. Humans, by the way, are also Great
Apes -- and according to many researchers, there's more of a family resemblance
than we once thought.
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- Man-Ape Differences Debunked
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- Prior to 1960, scientists presumed that
humans were the only apes to make and use tools. Then reknowned primatologist
Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees modifiying branches to use them as tools
to gather termites. Soon, many different tool-using behaviours were also
observed.
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- So scientists focused on two other abilities
they said were the key to Man vs. Ape differences: linguistic ability and
"theory of the mind". The presumption was that non-human apes
did not have the capacity to learn and use language, and were not self-aware
and thus could not understand that another beings have a different point
of view.
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- Diane Fossey observed gorillas engaging
in complex social behaviours. But some researchers think there is enough
evidence that both those presumptions are false. Researchers have observed
apes attempting to deceive others, blowing the 'theory of the mind' argument.
And a number of scientists have provided evidence that apes can learn to
use language even though they can't speak.
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- "There is no dividing line between
humans and apes," says Stuart Shanker, a professor of psychology and
philosophy at York University in Toronto, and co-author of Apes, Language
and the Human Mind.
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- Shanker bases his opinion on his own
studies of a bonobo named Kanzi, made famous by primate researcher Sue
Savage-Rumbaugh of Georgia State University. In 1992, Savage-Rumbaugh invited
Shanker and American researcher Talbot Taylor to GSU to test her claims
that Kanzi could communicate on the same level as a young child. Shanker
admits that he and Taylor were skeptical at the start.
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- "We didn't believe it was possible,"
says Shanker, of Savage-Rumbaugh's claims. "We thought it was either
mimicry, or cuing."
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- The theory that non-human apes can't
use language appears to be false. In response, Savage-Rumbaugh asked Taylor
and Shanker to conduct any test they liked on Kanzi. Shanker and Taylor
sat down with Kanzi and a three-year-old girl and read simple sentences
to the two subjects such as "go get the bowl and put it in the fridge."
Kanzi "talked" by pointing to symbols on a special keyboard.
Shanker found that there was virtually no difference in comprehension skills
between the girl and the ape.
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- "Kanzi was like an unusual kid,
that's how I came to think of him," Shanker says.
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- And he's not alone in being impressed
by such "humanness". Researchers Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute
Galdikas all observed extremely complicated social behaviour in non-human
apes. Roger and Debbie Fauts claim they taught a chimpanzee named Washoe
to use American Sign Language for the deaf.
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- Are researchers being fooled into thinking
the Great Apes are like us -- just because they look like us?
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- But there have been suggestions that
researchers overinterpret results from studies of other Great Apes because
they look so human.
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- "We have the advantage, because
we are so close to them, that we have a better idea of what's going on
in their minds than in, say, the mind of a parrot," notes Frans de
Waal, Director of the Living Links Center, part of the Yerkes Primate Center
at Emory University in Atlanta. "But there's a danger we project things
that aren't there -- just as we sometimes do with other people. Assuming
that they are like -- or unlike -- us are both dangerous."
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- Ronald Nadler, professor emeritus at
Yerkes asserts that it is mostly the layperson -- not the researcher --
who is guilty of "Bambi-fying".
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- "It's mostly the public that do
the exagerrating," Nadler asserts. "They tend to see animals
like Walt Disney portrays them, as little thinking people."
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- Shanker acknowledges that this could
happen -- which is why he says he, Taylor and Savage-Rumbaugh took such
care when publishing their test results.
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- "The biggest problem is that most
ape research is anecdotal, observations in the wild" Shanker explains.
"There are no stringent controls like with lab testing. So we didn't
use anecdotal stuff, even though it's so interesting."
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- Great Apes have been observed trying
to deceive others -- an act that requires knowledge that someone else has
a different point of view. Instead, the authors used rigorous controls
to prevent them from unintentionally cuing Kanzi.
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- "We would do the same tests with
Sue wearing a welder's mask, or where Kanzi was wearing headphones to hear
different people making the requests," Shanker explains. "So
he wasn't being cued by voice or facial expression."
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- But does any of this mean that Great
Apes are essentially no different than humans? Frans de Waal says no.
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- "If a human and a chimpanzee are
walking down the street there is no mistaking which one is the chimpanzee
and which one is the human -- you can see which is which," de Waal
points out. "They are distinct species with different capacities.
There are gradual but substantial differences."
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- "There is a very clear line,"
assserts Nadler. "The apes' ability to understand the present and
future is limited. They don't appreciate their place in life as well as
we do -- although we have our own problems with that."
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- Nadler sees the push for the New Zealand
"ape rights" bill as adding unwarranted complexities to the situation.
"Animals exist on a continuum," he says. "Apes are much
more similar to us than other animals are. Science has already recognized
that by giving the apes more respect than other animals. Research on apes
is only conducted if the benefit to humans is worth the cost."
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- Shanker agrees that there are "qualitative
differences" between human and non-human apes, many of which came
out when testing Kanzi.
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- "The biggest difference was that
Kanzi will only communicate in isolated bits," Shanker explains. "He
will comply with a request or make a request but there were no long back
and forth exchanges like you will see with a child."
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- Could this be "the" difference?
Shanker is in the processing of finding out. He is now working with a new
baby bonobo to see if these more advanced communication skills can be developed.
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- Ape rights activists want to see ape
social relationships thrive. Shanker agrees that there are "qualitative
differences", many of which came out when testing Kanzi.
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- "The biggest difference was that
Kanzi will only communicate in isolated bits," Shanker explains. "He
will comply with a request or make a request but there were no long back
and forth exchanges like you will see with a child."
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- "There may be a biological difference
that makes these exchanges harder for non-human apes, or maybe they are
more easily distracted," Shanker muses. "If so, is that a developmental
capacity -- can we increase the ability to ignore irrelevant things?"
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- If the other Great Apes can learn to
use language the way humans do, advocates like GAP may see their "radical"
ideas gaining more acceptance. But Paul Waldau emphasizes that his group
is not focussing on "humanizing apes". He does not envision a
Planet of the Apes scenario -- just a natural one.
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- "The ideal situation would be to
allow them to live naturally, as if humans weren't impacting on them,"
Waldau explains. "We want their social groups to thrive, to allow
them to interact and experience a rich natural life."
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- And it may not end with Great Apes --
or even primates. De Waal, Nadler and Shanker and Waldau all say the line
between the non-human Great Apes and monkeys isn't all that thick either
-- again, the differences, while substantial, are gradual. And complicated,
social, intelligent non-primate animals also exist.
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- "Great Apes are better candidates
for protection, because they are probably more complex than other primates
which do not show intentionality [self-awareness, the ability to deceive],"
Waldau says. "But elephants and dolphins also show such complexities.
And humans are Great Apes too -- anything we achieve would apply to them
as well."
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- To find out more about our next of kin,
check out the Yerkes Primate Research Center's <http://www.cc.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/ Living Links website.
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- http://www.exn.net/html/templates/htmlpage.cfm?ID=19990224-51
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