In 1965, a chimpanzee was taken from the jungles of Africa and placed in NASA's space program, where her handlers dubbed her "Kathy." She went through just one year of "chimponaut" training before Allen and Beatrix Gardner, scientists at the University of Nevada, adopted her for an experiment in which they would teach her American Sign Language and raise her as a deaf human child. The Gardners, concerned first and foremost with scientific objectivity, stripped Kathy of a name that they worried lent itself to anthropomorphism and renamed her "Washoe," the name of the county in which the University is located. In the coming decades, Washoe would become one of the central characters in the historical melodrama of the ape-language studies. We tell the beginning of her story and consider the significance of her name. Become a supporter of this podcast:https://anchor.fm/bestiary/supportThis podcast is sponsored by Anchor