Verkkowashoe, a female chimpanzee trained by beatrice and allan gardner, learned to use well over 150 signs. Some apparently were used as nouns, standing for people and. Verkkowashoe, the first signing chimpanzee washoe comes to reno it was june 21, 1966. Allen and beatrix (trixie) gardner welcomed a chimpanzee named kathy to. Verkkocould tap the formidable manual dexterity of chimpanzees might be a felicitous choice, and selected american sign language or ameslan, the indigenous language of. Verkkoproject washoe and the subsequent projects described here were historical in that the gardners largely replicated the rich social environment in which. Verkkofascination with language and communication between humans and apes is never more apparent than in the story of washoe the chimpanzee and the primates that came after her. Verkkothis entry reviews the history and methods of language research with orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees. It covers spoken, signed, and visuo.
