Next of Kin
The next of kin a documentation of mind matter and love. This book was very inspirational it gives you a whole new outlook on the experience and the feelings of animals. Trying to relate with how much Roger Fouts has accomplished in his life is unbearable he has had so many experiences that have been recorded in this book. It was the type of book that was hard to put down from the beginning. In the next few pages I will discuss parts of the book that really moved me and left an impression on me. There are so many great parts it was hard to pick just a few to look into. I read this book in the first few weeks of school and re-read in the last two weeks, also I have bought a copy for my sister who is very interested in primate psychology and it has so much information and personal experience in it that it is in a way a textbook for primate psychology. Washoe was an extraordinary animal saved out of NASA by very patient and brilliant people, it was very exciting to see the advancements that she had made throughout the book. Not only her but also the few people that had have been working with her. The Gardner's the first care takers of Washoe was saved by the Gardner's had put a lot of trust into Roger
1974, Fouts was invited to give a presentation on chimpanzee's language acquisition at the world's first Conference on the Behavior of Great Apes, in Austria. The meeting was consisted of some of the finest primentologist such as Junichiro Itani, Diane Fosey, Toshida Nishida, Birut Galdikas, and Jane Goudall. Looking back Fouts was living a dream working with what he want and having a good life, but it was hard for him to grasp the science of chimpanzees which in fact meant life time imprisonment far from there native African homes. Fouts was starting to see that all his work was made possible only by the interactions of his chimpanzee's research subjects. He thought he had become a jailer. His day-to-day action includes, cages, locks, keys, leads, cattle prods, and guns, and they were totally routine. He had fought and won small battles. The juveniles got their rundevaal shelter on the island. He got permission to take them on walks to forage in the woods. Burris another chimp, got the right to live alone. He carried blanks instead of live ammo. But still in his mind he was a jailer, but a nice one. He knew that every morning he would let them out of their cells, put on their leads, and lead them into the island. With the loss of Ally was the arrival of Moja, which was part of the Gardners second experiment. Moja was kind of a pain in the ass biting and refusing to eat the Gardners where beside themselves, either the arrival of Moja the main teacher was Washoe, see Moja was never around any older chimps and Washoe put her right in line. 1978, Washoe was pregnant again, by fellow chimp Ally; from here pregnancy he had received his grant of 187,000 dollars. The money would nor only finance the study, but would also give some independence from Lemmon and protect Washoe's baby from plans of Lemmon might have for him or her, and protection for Washoe's partner Ally. The Garners had left Washoe and Fouts had taken the responsibility. In 1973 Fouts was flown to Yale's University to go higher up the ladder in his career. Yale's experience was a bad one it was not like he wanted it to be, he had came to a conclusion that he needed to fulfill his fantasy and find something for the chimps in a good and clean way of teaching like back at the Gardner's back yard. With that he declined Yale's teaching opportunities and moved on. By the mid 70's Fouts seemed to have everything his wife, children, living in a little country home just like he grew up on and remembered. He was also doing very well with a riding wave of ape language research that had brought him professional acclaim and research funding. Working out of the University of Oklahoma, which was the center of the universe when it came to chimpanzee signings. His work was being published regularly in the most respected journals, and doctoral candidates were flocking to Oklahoma to work with the chimps and Fouts. Washoe know in has been pregnant, and is going to be giving birth she was very excited and proud to be a mother. But tragedy would strike when Washoe's baby had died. With that Fouts was starting to realize that he turning into something he despised, Lemmon he thought in a few years he would take over the institute and be making the rules and doing other research to pay the bill and it wouldn't be like what it was. Something, that he loved and had so much enjoyed to do, something that when he got up in the morning he looked forward to go, not feeling poisoned and his soul was dying every day he went to see the chimps in "prison."
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2977
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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