I was especially moved by the story of Chimps (Chimpanzees) titled ‘Chimps: a whisper away from us’, on Animal Planet. This was a story of a lady called Sally Boysen (the lady in the picture with the chimp) who has dedicated her life to researching chimps, similar to Jane Goodall, a renowned primatologist who was in Chennai recently for the screening of wildlife pictures at a famous multiplex. Sally Boysen, an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Comparative Cognition Project at the Ohio State University, in this program I mentioned, walked viewers through her efforts at making chimps read and write using English letters and words. The one-hour program, to say the least, was very absorbing and absolutely mind-blowing. It was so good that I also watched a re-run of the story the next day. I learnt from this program that the DNA of chimps are just 1% different from that of human beings. Isn’t that mind-boggling????!!!! It made me feel really humble. The chimps were being taught to read alphabets by pointing to them on a computer screen, then slowly they were taught to identify words and relate them to objects (like a key, cat, etc.). The chimps were so good at it. They really were learning it like children do. They even learnt to use words to say what they wanted. Like, if they wanted a banana or chocolate kept in a locked box, they first chose the word key from the computer screen and when given the key, they took it and gave it to the person waiting next to the box. This is when they were in a cage; when they were out, they actually managed to find the right key and open the lock to the box!! Then, if there was more than one thing in the box, the person doing this teaching session prods the chimps to select one of the items from the screen. When the chimp chooses one of the items, it is given to him/her. Amazing, isn’t it?? Sally Boysen, in this story let the cameras into her daily routine. She was raising two chimps, Emma and Harper like her own children at home. And they were behaving no less than real kids. Climbing onto things, pulling things down, running around and playing in water. It was really a pleasure to watch this on screen. I could go on and on about the whole show, but I am sure I cannot relate the story well enough to make all of you see the magic I saw on screen.
The other animal story I read this past week happened to be the biography of one John Grogan who had a pet Labrador named Marley. The biography is named ‘Marley and Me’ and it was an account of the life of Marley with its owners. It was such a sweet story. For one, the book made me smile all the way because Marley was exactly the same as Pumpkin, my pet Labrador. Another reason was that the story reiterated what I have known for a long time now, by virtue of having two wonderful pets at home. The fact that these creatures are very intelligent and shower us with unconditional love is something that is not easily ignored and something that can move one to tears.
So goes my ‘Animal Love’ month!!!
I was so obsessed with these stories that I have almost started to explore the possibility of becoming a primatologist or an animal psychologist like Sally Boysen. I am not sure if that is just the emotions of the past month pushing me over or a real calling. Whatever it is, as long it lasts, it is more animal stories for me!
P.S. Picture courtesy :- http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/boysendisc.htm; http://marleyandme.com/book.html
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