Project Nim Page #2

I don't think

that the previous sexual relationship

between Herb and myself

made a difference to the project at all,

other than it was part of the glue

that allowed it to happen.

Herb didn't come very much.

He wasn't part of

the caretaking package at all.

Young newborn chimps

are always raised by their mothers,

not by their fathers.

And I didn't see any way

of trying to change...

Or any point in trying to change that.

For better or worse,

I never regarded him as a child.

I regarded him

as an intelligent, personable centre

of a scientific project.

I had an implicit faith

that Nim would learn signs.

We had to wait and see.

How do they start

teaching the child to sign?

Does the child just watch and...

Whatever. I don't know.

It was a problem. We were trying

to teach this chimp sign language

and nobody in the house

really was fluent in sign language.

We would mould his hand into

the sign for "drink", which is this,

and then give him the bottle to drink.

It just happened.

It was just amazing.

And I thought, "Piece of cake. "

I was absolutely delighted.

He picked up quite a few signs

after that rather quickly.

"Eat", "me", "Nim"

were part of his first signs.

"Hug" was another one.

And it was as if, then,

"Okay, we're off.

"Now we just got to

build up the vocabulary. "

As much as we were moulding him,

we were moulding these damn hands

and all this stuff,

he was starting to mould us.

He knew every dynamic

that was in the room, instantly.

He knew when you were upset.

Whatever had happened in,

you know, a 13-, 14-year-old's life.

And he would come over and he would

just come and sit with you and hug you,

and then just kiss the tears away.

You know, it was amazing.

Just unconditional.

He was my life line,

he was my buddy,

and he was bringing something out in me,

a freedom to defy expectation

and authority.

His greatest focus

of defiance was against Wer.

He would kind of

pull books off the shelves,

and Wer liked his books a certain way.

When he saw Wer coming,

he would really do it.

It was very focused. It was intentional.

"F*** you, I'm touching these. "

It was a problem.

Wer was so impotent.

I mean, what could he do? He'd chase

him around. "Drop that! Blah, blah. "

I mean, he won every time.

Nim saw Herb

as his next adult male challenge.

I mean, that is the life

that he's hard-wired for.

To take on increasingly powerful

male figures until he's the top.

When Herb would come over,

expecting to step in

and have control of Nim,

and he couldn't and didn't,

we loved it. We loved it.

I cornered Nim

and just went to pull him out of some

hiding place, and he bit me.

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