THE DESCENT OF MAN

Chimps 'are people, too' (Dick Taylor, BBC, October 10th, 2006)

In a private facility just outside Des Moine, Iowa , primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is conducting an experiment that has lasted 26 years.

She's been rearing a small group of apes as if they are people, to see what happens.

Her results appear to be spectacular, at least to writer Danny Wallace: "Kanzi asked me for a present. I gave him the free toothbrush kit from my flight over. He brushed his teeth. We bonded." [...]

According to philosopher Julian Baggini, it is possible that non-human animals like chimps could be people.

"You could say that an adult chimp has more of the characteristics of a person than a new born baby," he says.

After all, though humans and chimps are different species, they share up to 99.4% of their most crucial DNA (the figure is difficult to calculate exactly and depends on the scientist you speak to). And to prove how similar we are to chimps, Danny takes part in a potentially humiliating experiment.

The scent of male sweat is controlled by their genes, in both chimps and men. In a blind test, three women were asked to sniff the sweat of Danny and Cody the chimp, to see which one they fancied most.

When they found out afterwards that one of the odours was from a chimp, there was laughter. When they realised that two out of three had preferred the chimp, there was nervous laughter.

Further research is needed before we can conclude that chimps and humans are the same species, but with people like Danny-boy and these women as test controls, we’re clearly getting closer all the time.