Bow’s Development: Age Three Through Five
When Bow was three years old, he could use his lexigrams to ask for what he wanted;he could understand what we told him; and he could even show real concern about our feelings, giving someone who was sad a big hug and knowing when something was said in jest and when it was serious. Yet there were several obvious problems. He seldom initiated conversations. His utterances were for the most part at the one word level, and he seemed uninterested in doing anything constructive. Give him a set of blocks to play with, and he never put two together to form a new configuration. If you built something from plastic blocks for him, he would tear it apart. He loved to tear things apart, but would not put them back together. He would open the door, but he never closed it. He used toys as projectiles, but not as outlets for imaginative play. The biggest problem of all was discipline. He was a fun-loving, fairly good-natured little boy, but he wouldn’t do what he was told when he was told, and this was becoming a serious problem, considering that he was rapidly growing stronger than I was.
When Bow was an infant, he had had free access to every part of the house. He could freely crawl and later walk wherever he wished. He had a playpen full of toys. I treated him as much as possible just like another child. He and Sword played together and shared their toys. Sometimes they had disagreements, but it was nothing that I couldn’t handle. As Bow grew older, he started to become destructive, and his free roaming became more limited.
Bow liked to ride on my back, and as long as he held tightly onto me, I knew he would not cause any trouble. In a way, every restriction on his freedom of movement was self-imposed. He trained me to carry him on my back, because as long as he was perched there, he behaved. He trained me to confine him to the sunroom when I couldn’t give him my full attention, because letting him roam freely through the house destroyed valuable objects.
He trained me to put straps that fastened in the back on his clothes, because whenever I didn’t, he would remove his dirty diapers and play with their contents. He trained me not to leave him alone with stuffed animals and other toys, because he invariably tore them apart and filled the room with the stuffing. Not only was the toy destroyed, but its internal components created a health hazard.
My goal was to give Bow as much freedom as he could handle, and as much enculturation in the human way of life as possible, because, as a linguist, I believe that total immersion is the very best way to learn language. I don’t think real language use is acquired by rote memorization. What works for humans is engagement in context. I do not believe it is any different for chimpanzees.
Besides our time in the house, we went on many outings. Bow loved the outdoors. As long as I sat down in one spot, Bow felt free to explore, staying within a tight radius of me. If I got up and indicated that we were going home, he would climb onto my back, and off we would go.
The key point, which was difficult to explain to others, was that I didn’t train Bow to do anything. I couldn’t force him to behave in any particular way if I wanted to. I interacted with him naturally, and we negotiated the rules of our relationship as we went along.
When Bow turned three, I started the internship program. The interns were college graduates who came for three months periods. They were eager to interact first hand with a chimpanzee, and they brought with them boundless energy, tremendous dedication, and many great ideas that were added to the program.
The interns were provided with room and board, but there was no salary. I was very lucky that so many people gave freely of their time and energy to Project Bow. The first intern was Samina Farooqi, and she came all the way from India to be with us! Samina was extra dedicated in that she only required one day off, but normally interns had two days off and worked eight hours a day, five days a week. When you consider that they could have been earning a real salary during that time, you can understand what a very big contribution they made!
The interns worked diligently with Bow for three hour periods, five days a week. That accounted for six of the eight hours. The other two hours were spent editing video footage, transcribing dialogues with Bow and preparing written reports.
We used an adapted form of floortime DIR, a method pioneered by Dr. Stanley Greenspan. Bow was not taught anything by rote. We played with him, paid attention to what he was interested in, and tried to engage him on his terms. All the while we were using lexigrams and talking to him in ordinary spoken language. The interns used English. I used Hebrew.
Methods of Pointing and Methods of Transcribing
The lexigrams were words printed in the standard spelling of the languages we used. In 2005, I started arranging them in menus, based on semantic relationships. However, the menus were constantly being rearranged, so Bow could not memorize the position of the lexigram in the menu. He had to remember how each word looked. We used different fonts and colors, so Bow couldn’t rely on color or font to distinguish lexigrams.
The menus were laminated sheets at first, which we held in our hands and Bow could touch. Later we started posting them on the glass of the sunroom, so Bow could point to them, but could not destroy them. We also used menu stands for mealtime, and the fall interns of 2005 and 2006 made themselves shirts with lexigrams printed on them, for the purpose of even better engagement with Bow.
Bow could select the lexigram he wanted to use by pointing at it. There were several different pointing methods:
- open handed point (OHP) — the very best evidence of language use, because he did it all by himself.
- assisted finger (AF) — where he held the finger of one hand with the other hand to help himself point. (Pointing isn’t a very natural gesture for a chimpanzee.)
- researcher’s hand (RH) — Bow would use one of our hands as if it were a pointer.
- prompted (PR) — We would take his hand and prompt him to point at something.
In the fall of 2005, our method of recording dialogues with Bow was still quite primitive. Sometimes one intern would take handwritten notes while another played with Bow. Sometimes one intern would do floortime with Bow, while the other filmed the interactions. Handwritten dialogues were later transcribed on the computer. Filmed dialogues were edited down to about three minute segments.
The weakness of this methodology was that we had no film footage of transcribed dialogues, and we had no transcript of filmed dialogue. This would not have been such a big problem, if not for one thing: none of us were able to catch everything Bow pointed at with a single viewing!
Chimpanzees have a very high metabolism. They tend to do everything fast. They can complete a social transaction in the blink of an eye, They can have a fight, sulk and reconcile faster than we can tie our shoelaces. They think faster, they process information faster, and they move faster. Bow seemed hyperactive, when viewed from the human perspective, and he had trouble slowing down to accomodate us. The irony is that he was answering our questions faster than we could notice. When we failed to register what he said, we would slow down even more, assuming he was slow. You can imagine how frustrating this must have been for him!
In the fall of 2006 we changed our method of documentation. The practice of taking handwritten notes was discontinued. Instead, every filmed dialogue was transcribed after multiple viewings of the video clip. That’s when we saw what was really happening: in real time, we didn’t notice Bow’s answers. But when we were able to slow down the video and view it over and over again, we saw that Bow had used OHP — his own hand, without assistance — to answer our questions and to try to engage us in spontaneous conversation about the current context.
Frustrated by our inattention, Bow took to using our hands (RH) in order to make sure we saw what he was saying. This was the state of affairs when in the spring of 2007 I suddenly found myself with no interns and Bow riding on my back twelve hours a day.
Sometimes I have lots of applicants for the internship. Sometimes there are none. When I have no help, the responsibility for taking care of Bow falls squarely on my shoulders. And I mean that literally! In April of 2007, there was no replacement for two departing volunteers. Bow weighed about 45 lbs, and he behaved well only when I was carrying him on my back. My own weight fell during that period from around 120 lbs to 109. This was good for my overall health, but carrying Bow’s weight was beginning to affect my joints.
Bow was no longer wearing clothes. The use of straps to keep his diapers on had to be discontinued, because he could remove them unless they were skin-tight, and this posed a health hazard to him. He was now in pull-ups, and used the potty consistently, as long as I was with him every moment of the day. But I needed to get to the grocery store and the bank and the post office, and many places are only open during business hours, when Bow is awake. Bow is not allowed into these businesses, and I could not leave him unattended in the car.
Reluctantly, I had an outdoor pen constructed, intending to use it only for absolutely necessary errands. But Bow hated the pen, and on the third time I tried to leave him there, he refused to go in. In the struggle that ensued, I injured my hand on his leash. He did not intend to hurt me. I just grabbed the leash by my left hand when I couldn’t hold onto it by the handle using the muscles power of my right hand alone. But the chain part of the leash was metal, and Bow kept pulling on the leash with his arm, and I ended up splitting open the flesh of my left index finger. When Bow saw that I was seriously injured, he stopped struggling. He let me put him in the pen so I could go to the emergency room.
Keep in mind: going into the pen was his choice. I couldn’t force him to do anything. He went in of his own free will, because he realized I was in trouble.
After I returned from the emergency room, I took Bow back out of the pen, but the realization was beginning to dawn that we could not go on this way. I couldn’t allow Bow to dictate when I could leave the house. He was a five year old little boy! No five year old could be entrusted with that much power over an entire household.
I commissioned a local contractor to convert the sunroom into two large indoor pens with corridors leading to a metal toilet room and to the outdoor pen. Bow went into the outdoor pen when the construction was still underway, and I slept outdoors in the pen with him every night, to make sure that he was warm and safe out there. Even when the indoor pens were completed, I continued to sleep in the pens with Bow for many months thereafter. I wanted him to know I was not abandoning him. We were still a family. I was still there for him. But the rules had changed.
This was a very difficult time for all of us. Sword felt neglected as I spent most of the day in the pens. Bow and I spent many hours sitting huddled together, silent and glum on the concrete floor. The lack of adornments in our surroundings wasn’t a decorating choice. It was the only option, considering Bow’s behavior. I had given him lots of choices en route to the pens, and the way he exercised his right to choose had landed us in this impasse. I think both Bow and I were depressed when the summer of 2007 began. But the darkest hour is always the one before the dawn.
We began to develop daily routines. Lexigram use was on the upswing. Sword and I took meals with Bow in the pens, so we were still a family. Little by litte, our daily lives re-established themselves.
The pen system created exactly the kind of structure that Bow needed in order to thrive. And we were very lucky in June of 2007 to have a remarkable new intern join Project Bow.
Eden Michaelov is a native speaker of English who was brought up in Canada, but she is also fluent in Hebrew. Some of her family members are native speakers of Hebrew; she went to a school where Hebrew was taught; and she spent some time in Israel as a volunteer. She can speak, read and write Hebrew. This gave her a considerable advantage with Bow, who it turns out, had all this while been looking down on volunteers who did not speak Hebrew. Eden’s easy going personality was an immediate success with Bow, and her arrival was just in time to cheer Bow up about his new living arrangements.
Within a matter of weeks, with a new routine in place, Bow reached the following milestones:
1) Consistent potty behavior with both me and Eden. (He had been fairly consistent with me that spring, but he was very tricky with the interns.)
2) Using his words productively in both Hebrew and English. (For both meals and play sessions.)
3) Spontaneously using language in novel applications.
One of the problems with using lexigrams is that if a new lexigram hasn’t been introduced for an item in Bow’s working vocabulary, then even though Bow knows the word for purposes of comprehension, he cannot use it productively. In June and July of 2007 Bow began to use color words in order to ask for new foods for which a lexigram hadn’t been introduced. See below for a transcript of a session where Bow requested watermelon by using the Hebrew lexigram for “red”.
After Bow discovered that color words could be used to label foods, he began to refer to the cereal Sword and I had for breakfast in the pens as “brown”. He referred to cereal as brown, even when he didn’t want any, just to comment on what we were eating. And the next thing that happened was truly amazing: Bow told Eden that her mouth smelled of cereal! He only used two words: “Brown” and “Mouth”. But the way he used them in his exchange with Eden was the very essence of spontaneous communication.
It was a breakthrough!
Bow was not asking for cereal. He wasn’t asking for anything at all. Although he had not seen her eat, he knew that Eden had had cereal, and he was telling her this, by way of conversation. It was precisely the sort of spontaneous occurrence that characterizes human language, and that critics of ape language research claim non-humans are incapable of.
The “Brown Mouth” incident of July 17, 2007 was just the tip of the iceberg. There were many more breakthroughs that summer. But because Bow used RH, we had also opened the door to a whole series of criticisms, concerning cuing and “Clever Hans”. (See link below.)
I will stop my story here for the time being. I look forward to your input.
(c) 2008 Aya Katz
[Below are reprinted the original comments on this article.]
Comments
( 31 comments)
mistyhorizon2003 4 years ago from Guernsey (Channel Islands)Level 7 Commenter
This is just fascinating and I am riveted by it. What a great character, I would so love to be able to meet Bow, but far too much water between us sadly.
Aya Katz 4 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Mistyhorizon, thanks. I think he’s pretty amazing, too. It might be possible for you to see him without crossing the water, once we get a Skype interface for Bow’s pens. I want to open a window on the world for him, even if he can’t go anywhere right now.
mistyhorizon2003 4 years ago from Guernsey (Channel Islands)Level 7 Commenter
I would love that, as he sounds so intelligent and to see him would be fabulous.
Aya Katz 4 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Mistyhorizon, I’ll let you know when we have the kinks worked out in our communication system.
Bow is very interested in what he sees of the outer world on the computer screen.
Shadesbreath 3 years ago from CaliforniaLevel 5 Commenter
Wow, this is fantastic stuff. That “Brown Mouth” comment is so, you know, just like something random anyone would say, you know. Like, “Dude, your breath smells like tuna.” Amazing to find that out. I wonder what’s really going on in their heads. They must have an internal voice or something just like ours.
On to the next installment, this is great.
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Shadesbreath, thanks for dropping by. Yes, Bow is constantly thinking about things, and his reactions to ordinary events often involve his own particular slant.
SpocksAmanda 3 years ago
This whole venture seems like a modern day venture into what Roger Fouts did with Sign Language with Washoe. I had no idea that studies of this kind were still going on. If I were not graduating this spring from college, I would apply to work with Bow. It sems like a chance of a lifetime. Sad bow only get to makes connections with interns for 3 months though before having to adjust to a new person/persons
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Spock’sAmanda, thanks for dropping by. Yes, studies like these are still going on. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is working with bonobos. Up until very recently, Sally Boysen was working with chimpanzees. And I am working with Bow. There’s not a lot of funding available, though, which is why I take volunteers. If you are still interested after you graduate, you could apply for a summer internship.
Mandy Chaverou 3 years ago
Hi Aya
Yes I quite agree with Spock’s Amanda it must be very frustrating for Bow to adapt to someone for a period of time then to find himself a few months later with “another” face, but I suppose then he doesn’t get too attached…. Its very interesting what you are doing with Bow.
If I’m writing to you today it’s because my daughter has been talking to me about what you’re doing. She is “over” passioned with chimpanzees and Bonobos and I know that she was wishing to apply to be an intern for next year but sadly the dates do not correspond with her university.
Perhaps in a year or two when she has finished she could apply or re-apply. In 2006 she spent a few weeks in the Congo with Claudine André and her Bonobos and would like to do so again. She was born to be with animals.
I wish you good luck for the future, it’s a good job there are people like you and claudine….. keep up the good work.
Give Bow a hug.
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Mandy, thanks for your posting! Your daughter sounds like someone we could use around here. Maybe in a few years our schedules will fit just right, and she can apply.
Yes, it is tough on Bow to have to get used to new people every few months. He does get attached, and then he misses his new friends when they are gone. However, he is now able to see some of them on Skype.
It’s actually amazing that we require our human children to get used to a new teacher or a new babysitter without making much fuss. I think none of us were really intended to break off attachments and create new ones as rapidly as society now expects.
joyride 3 years ago
It has long been known, that animals are very intelligent beings, and that they have feelings too, which most people, don t understand, and therefore, take no concideration to them or their feelings, and treat them awfully, and let them suffer greatly, We all know about dolphins being very intelligent, but I recently saw a program, about pigs being extremely intelligent, which quite surprised me, those animals, just being raised, to be eaten, and only get to live a short 12 months, and they were proven to be as smart or even smarter than most humans, Well, that was a very interresting program, and I m so glad that I ve been a vegetarian, for the last 30 years, thus not being the cause, of inflicting any pain on those highly intelligent anmals, I think we, humans have to take more concideration and treat and take care of all animals, the best that we can, Any animal owner, knows, how much love an animal is capable of, who loves us more, than our animals, and who s always glad to see us, So to everyone I say, treat the Animals well, and love them, cause they sure love us, I spent last winter in Cyprus, saving, feeding
neutering,spaying and rehoming the cyprus cats, and all I can say, is that those wild, unwanted,stray cats, showed more love,than anyone could ever think is possible, all the hotel cats, came to my room, on the 2nd floor each night, and slept in my bed,and my love for them is endless. They truly want to be with you,and enjoy your company,they were always waiting for me, when I came home,in the evening, and I m going back there again this winter, to try to save more cats, now when another cattery opened up in the ayia napa area, sincerely kelly ann
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Joyride,
Thanks so much for your comments. I can see that you care a great deal about animals. You have thought about the suffering of animals due to overpopulation and lack of care. But have you thought about the suffering that spaying and neutering inflicts? Is this something you would ever consider as a population control measure for humans?
joyride 3 years ago
Hi aya, I dont understand what you mean with the suffering of the cats, dogs and other animals, being spayed or neutered, I only know, that because there is such an overpopulation of unwanted cats and dogs, in most countries, this is the only way, to at least, keep the ones, that are already here alive, we cannot rehome or replace, most of the cats and dogs, that are already here, and a cat can have kittens, 2 or 3 times in a year, All my animals are spayed and neutered, and I never heard, anyone say, that that would in any way harm them, The mother cats in cyprus, that I had spayed, all seemed quite content, and unfortunatelly, not all of their kittens survive, and before that, they suffer, in cold, draughty places, sincerely kelly ann
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Joyride, many human beings all over the world suffer from hunger and deprivation, but nobody is suggesting that we neuter them. Keep in mind that when a male is neutered, we’re talking about full castration, not just a vasectomy. With a female, we are talking full hysterectomy, not just a tubal ligation. In the case of humans, even a vasectomy or hysterectomy is something the person undergoing it must consent to, because the right to have children is considered a fundamental right. But what is done to animals who are not human is even worse than that. They are deprived of their sex life, and this also affects the functioning of their brain. Hormones from the gonads are part of the complicated system that allows us all to function at our highest intellectual and spiritual potential. Castration is akin to a lobotomy. (A lobotomy often renders the victim more docile, so it gives the impression of being at peace, but really it has just become more phlegmatic.)
Do some research on what happens to women who have undergone a full hysterectomy, not leaving even one ovary in place. It will give you an idea of what is involved.
In nature, animals reproduce, and then some of them don’t survive. There are predators who eliminate the weak, and overpopulation is rarely a problem. To suggest that the human way is always the most humane way is not to consider all of the possibilities.
joyride 3 years ago
Well, most animal lovers, and animal activists are only, trying to do the best for the animals, And I do believe, that staying alive neutered or spayed, is far more better, than being killed in the most cruel of ways, which is the custom, on Cyprus and in Greece, for the feral cats. I can tell you about Little mama at the hotel, and other females, that I encountered, who would be sitting high up in trees, for hours, with a whole army of males, on the ground, Neither little mama, or the other females, were very happy with the situation, and always being chased, by all these males, and never being left alone, I don t know about animal sex, but it might be overrated, I think little mama, is much happier now, when left alone, just running around with black, her daughter, and now, when she s been fixed, the owner, promised to spare her, and not killing her, That s our plan, to spay the females, or house them, so that the hotel, and restaurant owners will not kill them, It s a terrible feeling, to have animals that you care for being killed off, with poisened food, Staying alive, is better, than a painful death, and the cat overpopulation was the problem in the first place, that s why they re poisening the cats or bundelling them up, and drowning the kittens in the ocean, I prefer live cats to dead cats. Also, I had all my bunnies neutered, and I ve never seen, so much humping going on ever, so whatever they did, they must have had some feelings left, and they had their rangs too, first female, male etc, but in their case, only the males were neutered, you do what you think, is best for your animals, that s all there is, there just ain t enough homes, for all these unwanted animals, so that s why we have to do this, kelly ann.
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Kelly Ann. I understand that you are only doing what you think best.
gwendymom 3 years ago from Oklahoma
Very Interesting Aya. I am glad that you were featured in this weeks newsletter and I got the chance to read this hub. Keep up the good work!
countrywomen 3 years ago from Washington, USA
Aya- Is their a web camera or some sort of video footage of bow that we could watch? Seems to be a fascinating character that I would like to see in action. Good job to you, volunteers and Bow for this wonderful information!!
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Gwendymom, thanks for your comment and your encouragement.
Countrywomen, we are working on trying to find the best way to implement this. Of course, there are videos, and I hope to add some of these to my hubsites, but that is not the same as a live webcam. Bow does chat on Skype with people he knows, but even with that there are a number of problems, both technical and behavioral. But I am working on improving the situation!
Murf 3 years ago
Hi there, I was just wondering what will happend to Bow ina year or two when he becomes too large and unmanageable for you to keep him? Will you send him to a zoo or sacntuary to attempt to rehabilitate him? Dont you think its a bit unfair that he will find it very difficult to integrate with other chimps?
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Murf, thanks for your comment. You asked this question concerning the hub about Bow’s Development Age Three through Five. To find out what happened a year or two later, why don’t you read the next hub in the series, Bow and Literacy?
My commitment to Bow is not limited to his being small and “manageable”. This is a commitment for a lifetime. I do hope to find Bow a mate and I understand his need for chimpanzee companionship, as well as human. Do you understand his need for human companionship? Please consider what it would do to him if he were torn out of the only family he’s ever known.
By rehebailitation, do you mean, for instance, that he should forget how to read and write?
Murf 3 years ago
Hello again Aya, I just read the other hubs about Bow, sorry I missed them the first time. He is a pretty amazing chimp but I do worry about what will become of him in the future. I see your point that if he was taken away from you he would probably suffer emotionally for a while, however dont you think he is already? He has already been torn from his own family.
By rehablitation I meant him learning how to behave like a chimp again, he belongs in a group of other chimpanzees where he can follow his instincts. I am far from being an expert but I have seen first hand what happens when adult chimps are kept captive too long and I believe that keeping him with humans for his entire life is mean. If nothing else you could be putting yourself in danger.
I dont intend to offend you as your research is extremely interesting, but just because you can teach him to read and write doesnt mean you necessarily should. People can teach elephants to stand on two legs and perform tricks but that doesnt mean they should.
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Murf, I appreciate that your comments come out of concern for Bow. However, the assumption that Bow’s linguistic achievements are unnatural and not good for him are not something I share. Bow didn’t pick up language because he was forced to. He’s a very stubborn fellow, and when he doesn’t want to do something, he won’t do it. He picked up language and literacy because it IS natural for him. There are things about chimpanzees — and also about humans — that are still not well known.
I am still exploring these issues myself, and I hope to be able to clarify them further in other hubs. Is Bow suffering from isolation? Well, yes, as I am and as my daughter is. We live in a very rural area, and it’s hard to find peers. I am working very hard at finding friends for all of us to interact with!
ngureco 3 years agoLevel 2 Commenter
Good research you are doing here.
I think you should get him a girl chimpanzee so that when the right time come, we can get to know how their children will learn the languages.
Aya Katz 3 years ago from The OzarksHub Author
Ngureco, thanks for dropping by! I am planning to get Bow a female chimpanzee companion. I want his life to be complete and happy. I would have done it by now, if not for financial constraints. Hopefully, I will be able to raise the funds and make that dream come true!
Tatjana-Mihaela 24 months ago from Zadar, CROATIA
Well, Aya, up till today, I did not have idea that you are teaching your chimp to speak, so catching up your old Hubs about that topic. This is excellent project and I am trully amazed with it!
Aya Katz 24 months ago from The OzarksHub Author
Tatjana-Mihaela, thanks. It’s an ongoing process. Bow has been spelling out what he wants to communicate for years now, but getting him to do it in a way that will satisfy the scientific community is a challenge I am still grappling with.
Sandyspider 24 months ago from Wisconsin, USALevel 1 Commenter
I always wanted one of these smart animals as a pet. They seem so human.
Aya Katz 24 months ago from The OzarksHub Author
Sandyspider, chimpanzees don’t make good pets in part because they are so very much like us. They want to be treated as equals or our superiors and will not accept a non-dominant position in the household.
Kind Regards 21 months ago from Missouri Ozarks – Table Rock Lake
Aya Katz, I agree with mistyhorizon2003 that “this is just fascinating and I am riveted by it.” Since I follow your blog, Notes from the Pens, I was aware of Bow living in the pens. I had no idea he started out living in the house. He sounds so happy and well-adjusted to the pens nowadays. I’m sure it was just an adjustment period like it would be for any of us in a new living situation. Onto Bow and Literacy, Kind Regards
Aya Katz 21 months ago from The OzarksHub Author
Thanks, Kind Regards! At the time, moving to the pens was a shock for all of us. By now, though, it is not any big deal, and I would venture to say we are fairly well adjusted. It’s not really where you live that’s important. It’s having your family with you, and fellowship and love, that really matter!
