Project Nim

Project Nim was a scientific study conducted in the 1970s that aimed to teach a chimpanzee named Nim how to communicate using American Sign Language. Researchers wanted to understand if a chimpanzee could learn language in a way similar to humans. Nim was raised in a human environment and taught signs to express himself. The project revealed both the potential and limitations of animal language learning, but also raised ethical questions about the treatment of Nim and how animals are used in such research. The study is now considered a significant part of the debate over animal rights and cognition.