Discussion on Laboratory Animal Media

1. Discussion onLaboratory Animal Media By: Daniel Belken, Joe Detwiler, Nick Fleming

2. Project Nim Summary • Nim Chimpsky was a chimpanzee that is taken away from his mother, and raised in a human family, to test whether apes can communicate through speech, if they are raised in a human environment. This however has to end when it is discovered that he can become dangerous he is transferred to a lab as a test subject.

3. Into The Laboratory • Animal Reader Article #32- Page 323 • By: Dr. Lynda Birke • Dr. Lynda Birke is a biologist who studies both animal studies, and she is also a substantial member of the feminist movement. (pg. 323)

4. Into The Laboratory Article Summary • This article is specifically based out of the 1994 book, Feminism, Animals and Science: the Naming of the Shrew. • She specifically discusses vivisection- which is “the cutting of or operation on a living animal usually for physiological or pathological investigation” (Merriam- Webster) • She also analyzes the use of animals in the laboratory, and also examines gender connections within the laboratory.

5. Important ideas from Project Nim The Experiment • The experiment was not as scientific as it could have been due to attachments that grew from the raising of the animal • From into the Laboratory: “To become a scientist means acquiring some desensitization.” (pg. 326) • Part of the “unprofessionalism” was the fact that each of the researchers developed relationships with Nim Chimpsky.

6. Important ideas from Project Nim (cont.) Herbert Terrace • Herbert Terrace was also somewhat detached from the experiment, when he was the lead researcher. • The previous relationship with Stephanie LaFarge also made an environment of resentment, which meant that Stephanie tended to not follow his direction. • Without this leadership, the experiment did not have a direction

7. Important ideas from Project Nim (cont.) Stephanie LaFarge • “To identify with your animals (a more “feminine” position) is to cease to be objective.” (pg. 326) • That adds more trauma to the separation of Nim from the family • Often, [researchers] receive little to no training in working with animals.” (pg. 327)

8. Important ideas from Project Nim (cont.) Ulterior Motives? • In addition, “laboratories give a source of political strength.” (pg. 328) • Herbert could have been just using this as a tool to get publicity. • The animal is not to be taken as a living animal, only as an exemplar of particular physiological systems or biochemical processes. (p. 330) • “Once they look at you, they cross the boundary from being an “apparatus.” (pg. 331)

9. Important ideas from Into the Laboratory More Problems • At the beginning he was treated as a lab animal • Once he began to be raised by the family, they treated him as a member. • This caused high levels of trauma (for the animal and the family) when he taken away, and moved to another house. • He was also inserted into a family with a fair amount of conflict.

10. Important ideas from Into the Laboratory Animal Cruelty • “ ’Scientists may not be intentionally cruel, but they have become dehumanized’ (Sally Gearhart)” (pg. 333) • First example- when Nim was taken from his mother. • He also while he was in the experiment, he was deprived of companionship.

11. Important ideas from Into the Laboratory • “The apparatus helps to construct (and limit)” (pg. 329) • There are no other chimpanzees in this examined in this study • There was no control group.

12. Important ideas from Into the Laboratory • “[It is their] closeness to us that makes the apes special in our eyes.” (pg. 332) • This may have contributed to the fact that they were treating him as a family member. • That developed a closeness to this animal- and this hindered the progress of teaching him- he was more of a playmate than a student.

13. Questions: • Do you feel that Herbert conducted the experiment correctly? Did he have ulterior motives? • Do you think that the project would have been successful if he had been raised in a disciplined family. • Do you feel that, if Stephanie had been properly trained, that the experiment would have been successful? • Do you think that if this experiment had been conducted entirely in a house, would it have changed the outcome?