Nim, the chimpanzee, had a very turbulent life. He went from being loved as a member of his own family to a living science experiment. He was kept in confinement, which is very detrimental to chimpanzees because they are social animals by nature. Over the next few paragraphs, I'll discuss his journey as he was moved from place to place around America. .
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Nims' first major life change came when he was approximately six weeks old. He was taken from his biological mother in Oklahoma and flown to New York to meet his hand-picked human mother. This was a very controversial move. Many animal activists believe it's a bad idea for humans to raise chimpanzees or any animal that is wild by nature, but Nim seemed to fit right in with his newly appointed mother and family. "All he wanted to do was cuddle with his new family"." (LOC 991). As Nim grew older, he was involved in everyday household activities, just like the rest of the family. And, as all chimps do, he challenged the oldest male of the family, his human father. One way that he did this was by taking all the books off the shelves, knowing that a neat bookcase was important to the father. His father Terrance (who was a scientist) came to resent his lack of authority over Nim and worried that this would stall his project, which was teaching the chimp to speak sign language. .
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Nim was forced to move back to Oklahoma when he grew and became more aggressive. He was not longer suited to life in a house with a human family. He was transported back to the Institute for Primate Studies and stripped all his daily normality's such as brushing his teeth and wearing clothes. The biggest change that Nim had make was living his life behind bars and not in the freedom of a home. Nim was forced into isolation.
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Nims' next step was to go to The Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP). Here, he subjected to total isolation and this was very hard on him, "The research itself, again according to Mahoney, was nowhere near as hard on the chimps as the terrible social isolation that went with it".
