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Kanzi: The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind
The remarkable story of a "talking" chimp, a leading scientist, and the profound insights they have uncovered about our speciesHe has been featured in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, and has been the subject of a "NOVA" documentary. He is directly responsible for discoveries that have forced the scientific community to recast its thinking about th...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
September 1st 1996
by Wiley
(first published November 3rd 1994)
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Complex subject matter discussed adeptly and in-depth while keeping the language and concepts clear enough for a lay-person. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh manages to raise critical questions about the nature of language (and language acquisition) in this analysis of her work with Kanzi, taking special care not to anthropomorphize the bonobo too much. Beyond the intriguing scientific discussion, the book is also an engaging story about the author's work and the relationship she has built with her subject.
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The remarkable story of a "talking" chimp, a leading scientist, and the profound insights they have uncovered about our speciesHe has been featured in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, and has been the subject of a "NOVA" documentary. He is directly responsible for discoveries that have forced the scientific community to recast its thinking about the nature of the mind and the origins of language. He is Kanzi, an extraordinary bonobo chimpanzee who has overturned the idea...more
I read this book for a Primatology course in graduate school. Kanzi was truly an amazing chimpanzee, one of the few capable of grasping human language. Sue-Savage Rumbaugh continues with her research today, though Kanzi is no longer living, in efforts to determine how humans acquired language in the past and how it has helped our species succeed.
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Surprisingly more global than I had presumed. Although the bonobo Kanzi gives his name to the title of the book, the book itself allows itself intelligent extrapolation of the data he provided. All in all it was an interesting mix of data, anecdote, evolutionary history, as awareness plea, and philosophy. This was an easy read which flowed well. I was simply surprised about how much information there was with regard to things learned through the research with, and directly from, Kanzi. My only c...more
I had my students read portions of this for Animal Behavior. Ideally, the book should be read cover-to-cover. Savage-Rumbaugh writes in a very accessible way. She is convincing, without being abrasive. If you are interested in linguistics, tool use, or evolution, this is a really good one to tackle.
The amazing compacity of great apes for language comprehension. the difference between language production and language comprehension.
I read most of it. It was interesting, but I did not like it much.
LOVE this so far, reading things most people wouldn't believe!
Savage-Rumbaugh seems insane to me.
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“We do not realize how deeply our starting assumptions affect the way we go about looking for and interpreting the data we collect. We should recognize that nonhuman organisms need not meet every new definition of human language, tool use, mind, or consciousness in order to have versions of their own that are worthy of serious study. We have set ourselves too much apart, grasping for definitions that will distinguish man from all other life on the planet. We must rejoin the great stream of life from whence we arose and strive to see within it the seeds of all we are and all we may become.”
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23 people liked it
“With the man/animal boundary so deep a part of the Western psyche, it is little wonder that many resist its dismantling on both a logical and emotional level, and with great confusion manifest between the two. Man's ability to exploit the planet, to take of its resources as he needs, and to usurp entire forests and all living creatures therein, rests upon the unwritten assumption that the chasm between himself and all other creatures is impassable. All of modern man's activities operate from the premise that the planet is his to allot into countries, states, counties, and individual plots, because he, unlike other creatures, has been given the twin gifts of reason and expression. By assuming that other animals lack these gifts entirely, man obviates any need to listen to the wishes of the creatures with which he shares the planet. He can therefore proceed comfortably by his own lights, blind to information that is perceived as nonexistent.”
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