Goodbye, Washoe

Washoe, 42, died Tuesday night.

The first chimpanzee to learn American Sign Language, Washoe shot to fifteen-plus minutes of fame in the late 60s, early 70s. She lived in more modest limelight at Central Washington University with her family since 1980.

Her sign language skills sparked an ongoing debate in the scientific community: what is language? what syntax is required to be defined as language?

Even scientists can be uncomfortable with the idea of chimpanzees learning skills that are supposed to be reserved for humans. Some of us can accept evolution in theory, but most are squeamish about seeing living evidence of evolution and its future possibilities.

For God's sake, one might have to consider whether chimpanzees and other animals feel emotion or have a soul.

I first heard of Washoe in the short story, In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried by Amy Hempel. I'll bet I've read the story, a masterpiece, fifty times.

Here is Hempel's passage that sums everything up:

"In the course of that experiment, that chimp had a baby. Imagine how her trainers must have thrilled when the mother, without prompting, began to sign to her newborn.
Baby, drink milk.
Baby, play ball.
And when the baby died, the mother stood over the body, her wrinkled hands moving with animal grace forming again and again the words: Baby, come hug. Baby, come hug, fluent now in the language of grief."

Goodbye, Washoe.