A ten-month-old baby and a baby chimp were among those who took part in the experiment. They both were survivors of scientific research, and they were neither the first nor the last.
There have been situations in historical past where scientists experimented on their kids.
So psychologist Winthrop Kellogg and his partner decided to investigate what would occur if a baby and a chimp were brought up in the same manner from infancy.
Kellogg was a lecturer at Indiana University before embarking on his most famous experiment. He investigated rats‘, birds‘, as well as other creatures‘ worries. Kellogg researched the past of Mowgli kids who were raised with animals.
He wanted to know why they couldn’t interact despite living among people for such a long period of time. Kellogg applied to the Yale Center for the Study of Great Apes in 1931.
He took Gua, a seven-month-old chimp, from there to increase. Donald, the scientist’s son, was 10 months old at the time. They are about the same age.
The Kelloggs set up the same conditions for their son and the chimp. Gua had the same clothes, toys, furniture, and attitude as Donald. Gua quickly adjusted and discovered a common language with Donald.
They grew up together, and their parents closely monitored and analyzed their development. Reflexes, movements, dexterity, speech comprehension, fears, and attentiveness were all compared.
Gua was ahead of Donald in the first six months of the experiment. The chimp learned to drink from a glass, eat with a spoon, and open doors on her own. She had about 50 phrases and commands memorized.
Imitated people’s behavior and expressed her love with kisses and hugs. Kellogg indicated that this is due to chimps maturing faster. However, Goa has been studying to use the restroom for a longer period of time.
She had no idea how to use a pencil and could never talk in an understandable way. One year and a half later, Kellogg noticed that no circumstances could alter genetic factors.
When Donald was a year and a half old, the experiment was called off. He began imitating Gua’s actions, which concerned his parents.
The pair reached the conclusion that an individual is more probable to become a chimp than vice versa. They wrote that training may assist an animal become more human-like, but only to a certain extent.
Gua was brought back to the Yale Center for Great Ape Research. Gua was treated horribly. She was forcefully removed from her usual place of residence initially, and then unexpectedly returned.
She passed away from pneumonia 2 years after the trial ended. There is almost no data given about Donald. He committed suicide at the age of 42, according to a few reports.
Psychologists started to criticize the Kellogg study after learning about it. To begin with, experimenting on a baby is completely unethical. Second, they were worried about the brutality shown to the baby chimp.
There were people who thought Kellogg’s donation to the survey of human-primate relationships was huge.
