(Affiliated with the Ohio State University Chimpanzee Center and The Living Links Center for the Study of Evolution & Behavior)
History & Profile
In 1983, Dr. Sally Boysen, professor in the Department of Psychology, established the Comparative Cognition Project at the Ohio State University Chimpanzee Center. The Center was one of three centers dedicated to the scientific study of chimpanzee cognitive abilities related to child development, comparative psychology, animal behavior, cognitive ethnology, neuroscience, anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy. (1)
Due to lack of funding for the continuation of the cognition project, Ohio State University closed its chimpanzee research program in February 2006.
Chimpanzee Use
Of the nine chimpanzees formerly at this center — Kermit, Darrell, Sheba, Sarah, Bobby, Ivy, Harper, Emma, and Keeli — the majority of them were born in a research laboratory and had spent their entire lives in a lab before their retirement to sanctuary. (2)
All were transferred to Primarily Primates, Inc. (PPI) in San Antonia Texas.
One chimpanzee, Kermit, died upon transfer to the sanctuary. A second, 16-year-old Bobby, died in sanctuary on April 20, 2006. PPI, now under a new Board of Directors, allowed all the chimpanzees, including the OSU chimpanzees, who had been placed at other sanctuaries during the time PPI was under receivership, to remain at those placements. Sara, Sheba, Keeli, Ivy, Harper, and Emma now reside in sanctuary at Chimp Haven; their companion, Darrell, passed away at Chimp Haven on January 4, 2008.
Research Profile
Principal Research Programs: Studies of numerical competence and representational abilities cognition.
Last Updated: April 2009
Sources
(1) Discover Channel Special Watches OSU Chimps Learn To Read and Ohio State University to Close its Primate Center, Retire its Chimpanzees
