Thursday, February 12, 2009

Chimps!

Here are a couple of pictures of a few of the cross-fostered sign-language-speaking chimpanzees whose daily lives occupy my (paid) time at the Psychobiology of Language lab at the University of Nevada.

Baby Washoe:

The human companions would often look at magazines with the chimps to elicit signs for various items that the chimps would see in the pictures.

Moja (bigger chimp) and Tatu
The chimps' favorite games were "chase" and "tickle", but they also highly enjoyed being pulled around in the wagon. Moja (the bigger, older chimp) loved to "mother" Tatu. She (Moja) always wanted to carry Tatu around on her back (the way mother chimps in the wild carry their young).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I get to play with primates all day, too, though I wish mine could not speak.

Anonymous said...

Do you ever throw poo at them to remind them who's in charge?