The story of Lucy is a very
interesting case of just how similar we humans are to apes. Lucy was an ape
that was studied in the early 1980's, possibly revolutionizing, and shedding a
little light one Darwin's theories. Lucy was a very interesting specimen by all
means, and really makes me wonder exactly where we came from.
This story was about Lucy the Ape, an Ape adopted by
psychologist Maurice Temerlin in the early 1880's. They were experimenting to
see if an ape could be raised as a human at the University of Oklahoma. Many
years teaching her how to live like a human, even teaching her sign language so
she could communicate with humans. When guests came over, she would go to the
kitchen and make everyone tea to drink. She was just like a human, but she was
of another species. After a few years, though, Lucy became too large and simply
could not live in a house any more. At the end of our story, we learn that Lucy
was taken to an island to live with other apes, but it took her a long time for
her to get even remotely used to ape life. After many years, she finally learned
at least slightly how to live with the apes, and her caretaker, who had been
spending time with her, left her on the island to live on her own. A year
later, they came back and found that tragically, she was skinned and dead
laying in front of the caretaker's old house on the island. It was presumed
that there had been a poacher, and Lucy, being comfortable around humans,
approached him/her, and was shot.
I think the biggest thing I'll be taking away from this is the fact that apes and humans can live in almost perfect harmony. Seeing how Lucy can be raised just like a normal human truly amazed me. An ape knowing to go and make tea when there were guests really blew my mind. I thought it was very interesting that she was "curious" about human culture and the idea that she was so similar to us really took me.
