Ever wonder what it would be like to be raised by apes? Would you begin to act like one, or stay true to human instinct? Well, thankfully, no humans were sent off to live with an ape couple, but a chimpanzee named Lucy was sent to live with a human couple as a nature-versus-nurture experiment.
Lucy the chimpanzee was part of psychological experiment. She was adopted within the first week of birth and raised to be as human as possible. As shocking as it may be, the experiment worked very well. She learned to dress herself, make tea for company, and eat with silverware. Lucy could communicate using sign-language, could recognize and react to peoples emotions, and had the mental flexibility to lie. One could say that the experiment worked a little too well. Lucy was even attracted to male humans and expressed fear when introduced to a male chimpanzee.
After the first few years, things started to get out of hand. Since chimpanzees are at least five times stronger than humans, Lucy quickly became the dictator in the household. She became very destructive and violent. Eventually, the couple decided it would be best for Lucy to go back to the wild and finally become a chimpanzee. She was shipped to a rehabilitation center in Gambia. Lucy didn't relate to the other chimps and showed many signs of depression. She continued to be only attracted to male humans, didn't eat, and expressed "hurt" via sign language.
A year later, Lucy was found to be poached. Her hands and feet were missing and people said it appeared that her skin had been skinned off and no hair or skin was found. Because of her fondness of humans, Lucy most likely walked up to the poachers innocently. Essentially, the way she was raised was the reason she died.
This story is very controversial. I happen to think that even though Lucy didn't have an easy life and didn't really fit in anywhere, the experiment was worth-while. Chimpanzee's are relatively similar to humans, and through Lucy we learned a lot about both humans and chimpanzees. We learned that chimpanzee's can grow up to be the equivalent of a minimally disabled human. If chimpanzees can basically become human, can humans grow up to be, in essence, chimpanzees? Is the only difference nature-versus-nurture?
Want to check out the 'Lucy' podcast? Click the links below!
Part I- http://www.radiolab.org/story/91706-lucy/
Part II- http://www.radiolab.org/story/91707-lucy-the-epilogue/
