Scientists Raised a Baby and a Chimpanzee Together As Siblings
It ended very badly
A child’s mind is a blank slate that offers endless learning possibilities. Religious beliefs, as well as cultural and social/societal norms, form an integral part of what that blank slate is exposed to.
This is why popular folklore, as well as Hollywood movies, have taken the whole concept further by implying that even animals can help paint this empty canvass.
For example, take a look at Tarzan, Jungle book, and the likes.
This entire concept would interest different scientists all over the world, including Winthrop Kellogg, who decided to turn the tables by raising an animal alongside a baby, as opposed to tossing the baby into the wild and hoping it gets picked up by a wolf or something.
His animal of choice would be nonother than one of our closest relatives; a chimpanzee. This would birth the controversial ape and child experiment.
The story starts in Cuba on the 15th of November, 1930, where a female chimpanzee named Gua was born. Gua, her mom, and her dad were donated to a research center where studies were carried out on them.
Unfortunately, in June 1931, she was forcibly removed from her mother’s possession and whisked off to a new home for more studies. She was only 7 months at the time.
The home in question would belong to none other than Winthrop Kellogg, and his wife Luella, with their 10-month-old son Donald.
Since he was still really young, Donald would end up being the perfect guinea pig for this experiment.
Winthrop had a strong interest in the principle of nature and nurture and often wondered if one could separate them from each other.
Would it be possible to take away the nature aspect and build on the nurture? Could an animal from birth shake off its natural instincts if subjected to extreme “human” environment?
Could an animal behave like a human being if raised alongside one?
Fortunately for him, he had all the resources right there; a 7 month old chimp and a 10 month old guinea pig— I mean, son.
The idea was very simple. Donald and Gua were to be raised as siblings. They were to be treated equally; they would be fed like siblings, would both be clothed, disciplined when they erred, and so on.
Gua would be taught to walk upright like a human being, would be taught to use a spoon as well as play with children’s toys.
Winthrop started noticing the difference in the behavioral and physical qualities of the duo.
Gua had nearly all her teeth, longer arms, and was stronger than his brother. However, Winthrop was determined to discover more disparities in both the physical and psychological aspects.
He was interested in just how developed their skulls were and how they compared to each other. To test this, Winthrop hit both their heads with a spoon to measure the difference in sound.
Donald’s head made a dull thud, while Gua’s made a much harsher thud, indicating her bones were thicker and more developed.
This experiment wasn’t even necessary because Winthrop had already x-rayed Gua’s skeleton and discovered it was already as developed as a two year old’s.
In order to ascertain the psychological disparity, their reaction times were to be measured.
Both Gua and Donald were placed in front of a motion picture camera and a revolver was fired behind the duo. As expected, they were both startled, however, Gua had a much faster response to the sound than Donald.
The duo had a rigid daily schedule:
They woke up at 7 and had breakfast at 7:30,
Relaxed, and by 9, experiments would begin,
They would then have lunch at 12,
Take a nap at 12:15,
Wake up at 3:30 for more experiments,
Have dinner by 6,
And then go to bed at 6:30
In a short period of time, Gua would begin to experience some problems with her posture.
Her handler suspected it could either be as a result of her bones not forming properly, or the fact that she had to spend more time looking up at her handlers which didn’t happen often in the wild.
With time, Gua really started acting like a human baby.
She stretched her arms when about to be picked up, cuddled up when picked, threw tantrums when her toys were taken away, as well as bobbed her head downwards a bit when sat up.
Winthrop eventually observed something shocking about Gua; despite her fully controlled human environment, Gua started making a nest with her bedding materials, something chimpanzees do in the wild with twigs.
She hadn’t seen anyone else do this before. Was nature slowly catching up with nurture?
Physically, Gua was developing faster than Donald.
They were both given strollers to aid their walking, and while Donald was dependent on it due to his underdeveloped bones, Gua was already walking really well and only used the stroller as a toy.
Winthrop observed how the two interacted with each other as well as their environment.
The duo really enjoyed each other’s company. Gua would often hold out her hands to Donald, who would in turn stroke her hair.
Gua looked noticeably happy whenever she saw her brother and would often move in his direction. Also, whenever she was scolded, Donald would reach out and hug her.
They got so close that Donald could be heard pronouncing her name by the time his speaking capacity started developing.
Gua would act excited and friendly around other children but shy and timid around adults. She also showed a kind of fearlessness around adult dogs, something that’s very characteristic of babies.
However, when she was 11 months, a puppy barked at her, this made her afraid of practically any other animal.
At this period, Gua showed more emotional maturity than Donald. Whenever she was scolded, she would act distressed and stretch out her hand for forgiveness and affection.
This usually happens within 19 to 24 months of a human child’s development.
She also figured out how to open doors a month before Donald, and by the time she was 1 year old, already knew that the light switch controlled the lights.
This would make her often stretch her hands towards the direction of the light bulb when she sensed someone headed towards the switch.
The duo were taught how to play patty cake. Donald picked this up very quickly whereas Gua never learned how to play. She also had a much harder time getting potty trained than Donald.
At 13 months, Gua was able to use a spoon for self feeding. Donald on the other hand couldn’t master it until 18 months.
Gua seemed to be taking the lead in more experiments than her brother. However, there was one aspect she fell way behind, an aspect which made Donald develop some strange behaviors too.
This was also the part where the experiment would go really bad.
The duo were tested for speech. Gua fell way behind, but Donald, as expected, did much better.
Gua had a very limited vocabulary consisting of “Ooohs”, “ahhhs”, and grunts.
Most of her communications were done via signs, for example, if she wanted food, she would point towards her mouth and if she wanted to play, she would tug on her playmate.
Also, if she wanted to, let’s say, grab something from a high shelf, she would tug on the nearest person and point at the shelf.
Donald on the other hand had already begun vocalizing his emotions, as well as his needs, a stage Gua could never reach.
Unfortunately, due to limited contact with his peers, Donald’s speech was stunted and he could only say 6 words and as such couldn’t mix well with his peers.
He was also noticed to have picked up some vocalizations from Gua, as he could be seen grunting, barking, screeching and “oooh-ing” like a chimpanzee.
Although Gua couldn’t talk, she was able to understand some certain commands and at the peak of her learning, could understand close to 100 different words. Donald at first fell behind on this, but would later overtake her with time.
Donald started facing very strong social issues with his peers, and so the experiment had to be called off.
Gua was evicted from the house and sent back in the year 1932 where she was the subject of other numerous experiments.
Winthrop explained that he was very disappointed that Gua hit a brick wall in the experiment, despite the fact that she was well immersed in the human experience.
On the bright side, Gua showed some human traits such as being quite potty trained, understanding some commands, as well as solving various problems. However, she was limited in other aspects (like speech) due to the fact that she was a chimpanzee.
How did the two end up?
Unfortunately, Gua died on the 21st of December, 1933 from pneumonia. Donald also lived till he was 43, after which he committed suicide in 1973.
He was able to study medicine and specialize in psychiatry, so whether or not the experiment had anything to do with his tragic end remains to be seen.
There’s only so much nurture can do before nature finally catches up.
What do you think? On a scale of 1 to 10, where do you rate the ethicality of this experiment?
Sources
https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/this-scientist-raised-his-baby-son-with-a-baby-chimp/85024/