Gabra Zachman

Charles Darwin, a lifelong dog owner, drew on observations of his own dogs to develop some of his ideas about the natural world. Darwin was modern science's first great believer in animal minds. He thought that animals, especially primates and some other mammals, had many of the same emotions and mental abilities as humans, only to a different degree.

Charles Darwin, a lifelong dog owner, drew on observations of his own dogs to develop some of his ideas about the natural world. Darwin was modern science's first great believer in animal minds. He thought that animals, especially primates and some other mammals, had many of the same emotions and mental abilities as humans, only to a different degree.

Primates, he wrote in The Descent of Man, feel jealousy, suspicion, emulation, gratitude, and magnanimity. They practice deceit and are revengeful. They are sometimes susceptible to ridicule and even have a sense of humor.

Primates, he wrote in The Descent of Man, feel jealousy, suspicion, emulation, gratitude, and magnanimity. They practice deceit and are revengeful. They are sometimes susceptible to ridicule and even have a sense of humor.

Darwin's ideas inspired many Victorians to wonder whether their pets might be taught human languages and vice versa, setting off a long period of preposterous at-home experiments. Darwin's neighbor, John Lubbock, was among the first Victorian naturalists to perform language experiments on an animal.

Darwin's ideas inspired many Victorians to wonder whether their pets might be taught human languages and vice versa, setting off a long period of preposterous at-home experiments. Darwin's neighbor, John Lubbock, was among the first Victorian naturalists to perform language experiments on an animal.

He taught a terrier puppy named Van how to associate cards imprinted with words like bone or tea with the objects they named. To ask for a bone, Van would select the card and bring it to Lubbock in his mouth. Around the time of Lubbock's experiments with Van, a New York publisher produced a phonetic dictionary of some 600 cat sounds compiled by a Frenchman named Alphonse Léon Grimaldi.

He taught a terrier puppy named Van how to associate cards imprinted with words like bone or tea with the objects they named. To ask for a bone, Van would select the card and bring it to Lubbock in his mouth. Around the time of Lubbock's experiments with Van, a New York publisher produced a phonetic dictionary of some 600 cat sounds compiled by a Frenchman named Alphonse Léon Grimaldi.

The transcriptions included everyday vocabulary, lay for milk, pitley bowl for mouse meat, meow for here, as well as complex concepts like zulaim for millionaire.

The transcriptions included everyday vocabulary, lay for milk, pitley bowl for mouse meat, meow for here, as well as complex concepts like zulaim for millionaire.

In India, meanwhile, the explorer and writer Sir Richard Burton brought 40 monkeys of various species into his house and gave each a name, including one he referred to as his wife, who wore pearl earrings and dined at his side in a high chair. Burton recorded about 60 monkey sounds that he claimed to be able to understand and speak.

In India, meanwhile, the explorer and writer Sir Richard Burton brought 40 monkeys of various species into his house and gave each a name, including one he referred to as his wife, who wore pearl earrings and dined at his side in a high chair. Burton recorded about 60 monkey sounds that he claimed to be able to understand and speak.

In London, a 20-year-old Alexander Graham Bell tried out some of his lifelong language experiments on the family terrier, Troove. He would shape Truve's lips with his hands while prompting her to growl, producing sentences like, How are you, Grandmama? By the 1960s, researchers understood how naively anthropomorphic those Victorian exercises had been.

In London, a 20-year-old Alexander Graham Bell tried out some of his lifelong language experiments on the family terrier, Troove. He would shape Truve's lips with his hands while prompting her to growl, producing sentences like, How are you, Grandmama? By the 1960s, researchers understood how naively anthropomorphic those Victorian exercises had been.

But communication experiments with animals still promised to settle a great linguistic debate. Did language belong to humans alone? Or did non-humans also have some capacity for it? As a challenge to Noam Chomsky's assertion that such a thing was impossible, a baby chimp was christened Nim Chimpsky and sent to live with a human family in Manhattan to learn sign language.

But communication experiments with animals still promised to settle a great linguistic debate. Did language belong to humans alone? Or did non-humans also have some capacity for it? As a challenge to Noam Chomsky's assertion that such a thing was impossible, a baby chimp was christened Nim Chimpsky and sent to live with a human family in Manhattan to learn sign language.

Novel and ambitious experiments with primates, dolphins, and parrots proliferated, many of them documenting animals following specific cues and using words and phrases to communicate with their human trainers. Some of these studies had serious flaws in their methodology, however, and in many cases, their treatment of the animals would be considered unethical today.

Novel and ambitious experiments with primates, dolphins, and parrots proliferated, many of them documenting animals following specific cues and using words and phrases to communicate with their human trainers. Some of these studies had serious flaws in their methodology, however, and in many cases, their treatment of the animals would be considered unethical today.

Project NIM, the flagship study of this era, enlisted a rotating cast of student volunteers to train NIM in American Sign Language, all while young NIM was disruptively shuttled among homes and caregivers. Eventually, the lapses in these studies began to overshadow the findings.

Project NIM, the flagship study of this era, enlisted a rotating cast of student volunteers to train NIM in American Sign Language, all while young NIM was disruptively shuttled among homes and caregivers. Eventually, the lapses in these studies began to overshadow the findings.