Winthrop Kellogg

December 2, 2006 2:16 PM

Winthop Kellogg was a psychologist in the early and mid-20th century who studied echolocation in animals and people. He is most notorious, however, for an experiment in which he raised an infant chimpanzee named Gua alongside his own baby son Harold. They seemed to get along pretty well (.mov).
posted by gottabefunky (8 comments total)

Here is an awe inspring video demonstration of human echolocation from Ben, who had his eyes removed at the age of 3. (more info on Ben)
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:42 PM on December 2, 2006

Hey, I knew about Ben Underwood before he got on youtube! He is a fascinating kid, and he lives locally. This weekend's slate also discusses Mr. Winthrop Kellogg and Ben Underwood. That kid is inspiring, and I envy his Wii collection.
posted by i8ny3x at 3:19 PM on December 2, 2006

Watched the Ben Underwood video. Wow. Amazing kid. Fantastic mother.
posted by ericb at 3:33 PM on December 2, 2006

I eagerly await the experiment where a baby is taken away from a psychologist to be reared by a family of chimpanzees.

The insights gleaned from such an experiment are sure to be of staggering import.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 9:44 PM on December 2, 2006

Maxwell_Smart, I know you are being snarky, but these sorts of human-primate interactions and experiments are staggeringly important.

They give us an appreciation of how similar we are to our primate cousins, thus building our sense of empathy / sympathy for them.

Similarly, they help us understand our own animal nature, increasing awareness that we are not particularly special and breaking down anthropocentric (?) worldviews.

From the linked videos (and many other sources, such as Koko, etc.), it's pretty clear to me that higher primates like being with people, and that as long as we aren't pumping them full of dangerous drugs or sawing off their skulls to implant electrodes, these experiences are win-win for all the beings involved.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:56 PM on December 2, 2006

Ben is amazing. So is the fact that his mom's name is Aquanetta.
posted by thecjm at 10:35 PM on December 2, 2006

I agree with meatbomb; although it is amusing to think of a family of chimpanzees invading somebody's house and taking their children away, these kinds of experiments are very important for studying child development. Plus, I'm not so sure chimpanzees mourn the loss of infants as long or as hard as we do. Males killing babies that are not their own is common in chimpanzee culture, isn't it?
posted by tehloki at 1:30 AM on December 3, 2006

I wonder how Donald reacted to this:

"We are told only that the study was terminated on March 28, 1932, when Gua was returned to the Orange Park primate colony through a gradual rehabilitating process."

Did he miss his "little sister"? Did Gua miss her "family"? I am dying to know what happened to Gua after this.
posted by thekilgore at 10:51 AM on December 3, 2006