Great Apes and Language Research | 305 of the ten videotapes used for the Science article were recorded between September 1976 and September 1977 As a consequence, their scientific reliability is highly questionable Research with other great apes has resulted in different findings than those of Terrace and his colleagues The total of spontaneous and novel utterances for the bonobo Kanzi, the gorilla Koko, and the orangutan Chantek, range between 50 percent and more than 90 percent Several of the language-research apes were reported to engage regularly in spontaneous self-signing, for example, during play; this behavior has been confirmed by independent observers Jane Goodall describes a visit to the Temerlins, where she “watched as [the chimpanzee] Lucy, looking through her magazine, repeatedly signed to herself as she turned the pages She was utterly absorbed, paying absolutely no attention to either Jane [Temerlin] or me.” (Goodall in Peterson & Goodall, 1993, p 204) Roger and Debbie Fouts state that the chimpanzee Washoe spontaneously taught the use of ASL to her adopted chimpanzee son, Loulis Not only did she demonstrate to him the correct signs, but on several occasions she also molded his hands into the proper signing configuration For six years, the researchers made only seven signs in Loulis’s environment (such as “who” and “where”) Loulis, nevertheless, mastered 55 signs by the end of the study period The well-known linguist Steven Pinker at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has suggested that “the apes had not learned any true ASL signs.” (Pinker, 1994, p 337) His position is Nim, a chimpanzee who was taught sign language, signals that he wants a drink during lunch in his Columbia University classroom (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey)