Around the late 1960s, a psychological experiment was conducted by Dr. Maurice Temerlin, to explore what happened if he and his wife raised a baby chimpanzee as if she was their own daughter. Over the course of twelve years Lucy the chimp had learned to make tea, dress herself, draw with markers, and even communicate with sign language. Before long Lucy had started to grow a lot, having developed the strength to rip apart the Temerlin's house, and the couple had to stop their experiment. They wanted to release Lucy into the wild to honor her, but unfortunately she had become so attached to her family, she became depressed, she didn't eat, and got very sick. Within 2 years of the Temerlin's stopping their experiment, a friend of Lucy's, who had supervised the chimp's release, found the skeleton of Lucy. She had appeared to be skinned and her hands and feet were no were to be found. This suggests that poachers, must likely aware of Lucy's relationship with humans, had taken advantage of her.
I thought this story was pretty powerful, and although Lucy's end was tragic, I think the experiment was worthwhile. It showed us that under the care of humans, chimps can become more and more like us. After billions of years of evolution, only ten years can dissolve the gaps between the two species.
Listen to Lucy's story on Radiolab HERE
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