Famous orangutan who 'learned to speak' died in the United States

Chantek was created by anthropologist Lyn Miles at the University of Tennessee and participated in a unique experiment that sought to understand whether a monkey could learn human behavior. He starred in Animal Planet's documentary "The Ape That Went to College."

Chantek was raised in his own room and his life was like that of a human child.

With the help of Lyn Miles, he learned to use tools, clean his room, make phone calls to his favorite fast food restaurant, or an ice cream shop. But most importantly, the monkey learned the American language of signs, began to communicate with humans and managed to hold a real conversation. The only reason he could not master oral speech was that the mouths of an orangutan are not designed for this.

Chantek soon integrated into the social life of the campus where he lived: when he was young, he attended a kindergarten of the university's children. As he grew older, his photo appeared in university yearbooks: among human faces, a face of "human orangutan" can be seen.

                                  

Chantek was inventive: he possessed a sense of humor and could create his own signs to replace those he did not know - for example, he called the "toothpaste" of "ketchup."

He attended lectures and played with students until he became too big and strong to move freely around campus. The orangutan was then taken to the Yerkes Primate Center in Atlanta, a research laboratory where he was trapped in a small cage. When Dr. Lyn Miles was allowed to see him, the orangutan looked devastated. According to the Daily Mail, he said by signs "Mother Lyn, get the car, go home". Dr. Miles asked if he was sick. "It hurts," Chantek said. She asked where it hurts, "Feelings," he replied.

In 1997, after 11 years in a cage, he was transported to the Atlanta Zoo. He spent the last 20 years of his life among other orangutans he referred to as "orange dogs." Chantek referred to him as an "orangutan person."

His brilliant intelligence and "engaging personality" helped him develop strong bonds with caregivers, sometimes calling the anthropologist the first name "Lyn," after Dr. Miles. According to the zoo's statement, he "often used sign language to communicate with his caretakers," but "was shy about using the signs with individuals he did not know and often chose more typical forms of communication for orangutans, such as Vocalizations and unique hand gestures. "

The cause of Chantek's death is hitherto unknown, but it is highly probable that he has died of a heart disease he has been treating since 2016. Orangutans are considered elderly after age 35, so he lived a long life. The zoo issued a statement