May
2003
Editorial: Musical
Apes
By Catherine Clyne
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Koko's self portrait |
In 2001, musician Peter Gabriel jammed with some unlikely
colleagues: bonobo apes at the Language Research Center of Georgia State
University. Gabriel had learned of the astonishing vocabulary mastered
by the bonobos in a language experiment utilizing symbols. The artist
reasoned that creatures who can communicate with humans would probably
be able to play and create music. The musician who brought us the song
“Shock the Monkey” taught Kanzi and his younger sister Panbanisha
the keyboard rudiments. They quickly caught on and Gabriel soon found
himself jamming along with one and then the other as each discovered
melody and rhythm.
Gabriel recounts his profound experience in the song “Animal Nation,”
which was featured on The Wild Thornberrys movie soundtrack: “Didn’t
meet you in the jungle swinging from a tree. I sat down at the piano
and you were playing with me. I couldn’t believe all the things
you could do. The apes I’d seen were in the zoo.”
The song was honored earlier this year with the Doris Day music award
at the Genesis Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
Peter Gabriel taught bonobos the musical basics and inspired them to
experiment; but another ape has taught us humans a thing or two as well.
Fine Animal Gorilla is a unique CD of songs inspired by things Koko
the signing gorilla have said and by her everyday life. Koko is listed
as a co-composer on songs like “Fine Animal Gorilla,” which
is her name for herself and “Scary Alligator,” a toy Koko
uses to scare people. It’s a CD that kids will enjoy—the
tunes are catchy—and it’s fascinating and fun to get a glimpse
of Koko’s world. The bluesy “Even Gorillas Get the Blues”
expresses Koko’s grief over the recent loss of her foster brother
Mike. And the poppy “I’m Just an Ordinary Girl” shows
us how Koko likes “ordinary girl-ish things,” like the color
red, playing with dolls and make-up. We also learn how Koko has become
a genuine American material girl: “But like most girls, I want
more.” Whoa!
Intelligent Life is All Around Us
The lives of these apes present multiple and dynamic ethical issues—none
of them simple. Clearly, the apes are treated well, but that doesn’t
change the fact that, basically, they’ve been made into freaks
who mirror us. To be sure, they are living proof of our desire to learn
about animals, to explore how “like us” apes are and, in
the process, challenge the treasured concept that only human beings
are capable of thought, communication and self awareness.
Through experiments, we’ve learned that our genetic cousins are
conscious: they can learn and teach what they know; they can recognize
themselves and others in videos, photos, and mirrors; they name themselves
and understand things like birth, death, grief and happiness in relation
to themselves; and they can string together complex symbols and phrases
to communicate. On top of that, some even surf the Internet and read
English words and phrases.
These findings have blown nay-sayers out of the water. To still contend
that apes don’t think and feel in ways similar to humans is a
ridiculous waste of time and really moot at this point. There are more
urgent matters demanding our attention. While we bicker over whether
or not they can think, their natural homes are being decimated. We must
all move on.
Animal Nation
“A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy” is something of a mantra
for many animal activists. I’m in full agreement. Without question,
each animal deserves to live his or her life fully and freely—the
nonhumans unmolested by humans. But when I think about what is happening
to their natural homes, the thought of returning Panbanisha and Koko
sickens me because there’s little wilderness left to return to,
and their survival can’t be assured if they were.
When confronted with photographs of a gorilla’s severed head on
a tin plate and a frozen baby chimp stored in a cooler, something deep
in my being, in my DNA, shudders. Call me speciesist, but there is something
uniquely horrific and repulsive about the routine slaughter of our nearest
relatives—oftentimes, entire families of gorillas—for food.
A recent study by Peter D. Walsh published in the journal Nature estimates
that between 1983 and 2000, ape populations in western Africa dropped
by more than half. The study was conducted in Gabon and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, which is home to 80 percent of the world’s
wild gorillas and most of the common chimpanzees. The primary culprit
is the lucrative though illegal trade in “bushmeat,” the
meat of wild animals. In just 17 short years, we’ve managed to
wipe out half their populations. What are we going to do in the next
10?
I fear this is the generation that will see the world we know and love
fade away, where wild places will disappear and species extinction rates
will skyrocket. Like it or not, we’re in the midst of it, a twilight.
A sequence in the film Naqoyqatsi (Hopi for “Life as War”)
movingly illustrates this moment as the animals we share this world
with disappear into the distance. All we humans can do is watch from
our Hummer as they stampede away. It’s a not-so-subtle metaphor
for the destruction caused by unchecked technology and the rapacious
human desire for more. Director Godfrey Reggio explains: “As difficult
as this may sound, I’m trying to be courageous enough to be hopeless
about this world order in order to be able to be hopeful about something
that’s more akin to what it means to be a human being.”
Yes, this makes me very sad, but it is where we’ve brought ourselves.
It is up to us to decide where we want to go and face difficult decisions.
Given that their habitat is disappearing, is it ethical to breed endangered
species and keep them protected in captivity, living unnatural lives?
Or is it better to just let them fade away?
As we ponder these questions in these dark times, perhaps we can learn
something from our cousins. Koko likes to stretch her arm out and take
snapshots of herself. There’s a blurred shot of Koko with wide
brown eyes, mouth hung open in concentration. And there’s the
classic close-up: half a face and a single eye looking back through
the lens. They’re self-portraits that anyone who has ever used
a camera has taken, and they demonstrate a curiosity and consciousness
we all have felt.
Peter Gabriel envisions an “Animal Nation:” “Starting
to hear the things you’ve said. Getting to know what’s going
on in your head. The first non-humans on the line, but there’ll
be plenty more there in good time.” I’d like to see the
Naqoyqatsi film sequence continue so that the humans crawl out of the
Hummer and follow after the animals. We’ve lost our way; it’s
time we try something else.
“Hey, bonobo woman. Hey, bonobo man. I look in your eyes, that’s
where I come from,” Gabriel sings. “Hey, bonobo woman. Hey,
bonobo man. Talk to us now, we are listening.”
Catherine Clyne
To learn more about Kanzi and Panbanisha, read Sue Savage-Rumbaugh’s
book Kanzi (Wiley). For more on Koko and Fine Animal Gorilla, contact
the Gorilla Foundation at (800) ME-GO-APE or www.koko.org.
To read Peter Walsh’s report, see www.ApeEbolaCrisis.org.
For more on bushmeat, read the new book Eating Apes by Dale Peterson
(University of California Press).
