The First Signs of Washoe
All normal humans have language: no other living organisms do
This view is still maintained by many scientists: that one of the essential differences between man and other animals is our unique control of language.
But in 1966, two psychologists began an experiment that challenges this assumption. They took a chimpanzee called Washoe into their own home and brought her up almost as a human child - but using only sign language in her presence. Hoping that she would somehow pick it up, they recorded her progress on film. Their efforts did not go unrewarded. If Washoe really has acquired language, she will have confounded some of the world's leading scientists. Yet, as the programme goes on to show, Washoe is only the first such chimpanzee of many....
Narrator IAN HOLM
Produced for WGBH Boston by SIMON CAMPBELL-JONES
Presented by VERONICA-JANE birley Editor PETER GOODCHILD
Monkey business: page 4