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1st Chimp To Learn Language Has Died

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The Associated Press

Published: November 1, 2007

Updated: 11/01/2007 12:55 am

SPOKANE, Wash. - Washoe, a female chimpanzee thought to be the first nonhuman to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept.

Washoe, who first learned a bit of American Sign Language in a research project in Nevada, had been living on Central Washington University's Ellensburg campus since 1980. She had a vocabulary of about 250 words.

She died Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute on the campus. She was born in Africa about 1965.

She was taken to the veterinary hospital at Washington State University on Wednesday for a necropsy. Her memorial will be Nov. 12.

'Washoe was an emissary, bringing us a message of respect for nature,' said Mary Lee Jensvold, assistant director of the nonprofit institute.

The Fouts went to Central Washington from Oklahoma in 1980 to create a home for Washoe and other chimps.

'The entire CWU community and the Ellensburg community are feeling the loss of our friend, Washoe, one of our daughters,' said CWU President Jerilyn S. McIntyre.

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