SPOKANE — Washoe, a female chimpanzee said to be the first nonhuman to acquire human language, has died at the age of 42 at Central Washington University.
Washoe, who first learned some American Sign Language in a research project in Nevada, had been living on CWU’s Ellensburg campus since 1980. Critics contended Washoe and some other primates learned to imitate sign language, but not true language skills.
Washoe died of natural causes Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute on the campus.
Washoe was born in Africa about 1965. Her memorial will be Nov. 12.
Her body was taken to the veterinary hospital at Washington State University on Wednesday for a necropsy.
“Washoe was a treasured member of our family,” the Foutses said in a statement.
Washoe had a reported vocabulary of about 250 words.
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