American Sign Language: Can Animals Think?

Have you ever come home from a long day at work to find your pet already waiting at the door for your arrival? Do you think that this is an example of their intellection or that it is purely instinctual? For many years this has been a long debated question by scientists, but since there was no way they could look inside their heads to study their thought process they came to the conclusion that animals could not think and that was a unique trait only humans had. For a long time, any studies on the topic “can animals think?” were banned or perceived of as wastes of time. However, some scientists composed these studies anyways and as more tests have been coming about it actually seems more apparent that animals can think. The more studies that …show more content…
The three classes of evidence: language, theory that you are conscious, and the theory that others are conscious were agreed on by supporters of the Great Ape Project (Wynne). Because of their close DNA matchup to us many tests have been performed on chimpanzees to identify whether or not they have a conscious mind. To continue, we still start with language; the ability to communicate. One example of this is Washoe, a chimpanzee, who has been taught to use American Sign Language. Washoe had recently been on a boat ride with her trainers when a swan came into view. Washoe had never seen a swan before and had no such word in her vocabulary, but she found a way around this. For, when she saw the swan she excitedly signed to her trainers “waterbird”. Researchers of ape language believe this shows a deeper understanding of language than we thought could be shown by apes. Also, scientists concluded that if an ape or chimpanzee could recognize itself in a mirror than, therefore, they had also recognized itself as a conscious being. To test this scientists used the mirror method created by Gordon Gallup (Wynne). Megan was the chimpanzee they tested this on. To be able to tell if she recognized herself in the mirror they put her under an anesthetic, then daubed bright red ink on her forehead. When megan woke up they placed a mirror in front of her and she reacted by …show more content…
The first example is: “some species, like chimpanzees and crows have the ability to remember something that happened in the past and make plans for the future” (victoria). Some researchers of animal behavior were watching a group of chimpanzees and t saw that one chimpanzee had been repeatedly beaten by another chimp in his group. This act of violence had gone on for a couple of days. However, after those couple of days the chimp that had been repeatedly beaten left the group because the environment was unsafe for him. Scientists concluded that this reassembled how animals can look into the past and make plans for the future. Next, example number two: some species of birds are known for their ability to recreate speech or even imitate voices, among these birds is the parrot. One parrot, known for being the best at recreating speech; the African Grey Parrot. In particular N’kisi. N’kisi has memorized over seven hundred words and can use them in everyday conversations. This, unlike other birds, means that N’kisi does not only mimic words and phrases he hears, but he has developed his own relationship with language as a form of self expression (Goodall). N’kisi also speaks in full sentences which implies that he is able to show a grasp of grammar in formulating his own thoughts (When animals talk). Example number three talks about a border collie named Chaser. Chaser has learned