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Assignment 4-1
There has been a lot of research and an equally large amount of money spent on teaching animals (especially apes) language.  Research some of the work done trying to teach animals language and write a 150-200-word essay to summarize the research.  What gains and losses have occurred and have we taught animals to communicate and to what extent?

Many animals have been taught to communicate. For instance, gorillas are actually able to speak in sign language, and have had many conversations with scientists. Primates, as a rule, have very good eyesight and much of their communication is accomplished in gestures or body language. Chantek (pronounced ‘chanteek’), an orangutan, was taught by Lyn Miles and Ann Southcombe (American anthropologists) to use sign language and a variety of intellectual skills. Chantek has a vocabulary of over 150 modified ESL signs and can also understand English when spoken to him. He uses tools and even understands the concepts of money and work-exchange! But, the closest researchers were able to get to developing a creative communication with a member of another species was a chimpanzee called Washoe, she was the first non-human to learn to communicate using American Sign Language as she was part of a research experiment for animal language acquisition. She had a signing vocabulary of over 350 words of ASL, and was able to convey a level of intelligent communication. Although many birds can mimic sounds and simple phrases of humans, they cannot put these into creative communication. Dogs and cats have basic communication down, being able to communicate with humans through their body language and their facial expressions. To me, there really aren’t any losses for developing communication amongst other species. We are able to further understand them and how could that be detrimental? Although, looking into how they are taught, they are captured out of their natural habitat and cannot ever return. Overall, that seems to be...