Loulis

Loulis

Species	Chimpanzee
Sex	Male
Born	(1978-05-10) May 10, 1978 (age 47)

Loulis (born May 10, 1978) is a chimpanzee who learned to communicate using signs adapted from American Sign Language.

Loulis was named for two caregivers (Louise and Lisa) at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was born. After ten months at Yerkes, Loulis was taken from his biological mother (who remained at Yerkes) and transferred to Oklahoma by Roger Fouts.^[1] Fouts had been working with Washoe, the first chimpanzee used in sign language experiments, and wanted to see what would happen if Washoe had an infant. Specifically, Fouts wanted to know if she would teach her offspring signs, so he gave infant Loulis to Washoe.^[1] In 1980, Roger and Deborah Fouts moved to Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington^[2] with several other chimpanzees involved in the language experiments. By 1993, the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) was built for the chimpanzees to reside in. In 2013, Loulis was moved from the CHCI to the chimpanzee sanctuary of the Fauna Foundation in Canada.^[3]

Language abilities

Washoe and three other chimpanzees (Tatu, Dar, and Moja) were raised as if they were deaf human children and taught signs from American Sign Language. The chimpanzees regularly use the hand signals to communicate with each other and humans. Loulis is the only chimpanzee in the family who was not cross-fostered; he wasn't raised by humans but rather Washoe and the other chimpanzees.^[1]

After eight days with Washoe, Loulis learned his first sign.^[4] For the first five years of his life, Loulis's human handlers only used seven signs around him (the signs used were who, which, want, where, name, that, and sign).^[5] Loulis was able to acquire what he learned of ASL from Washoe.^[6]

The details of this research can be found in Teaching Sign Language to Chimpanzees, edited by R. Allen Gardner, Beatrix T. Gardner, and Thomas E. Van Cantfort, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989.

Mary Lee Jensvold, a chimp researcher who has worked with Loulis and Tatu, another former CHCI chimp, reported that the two chimps from CHCI continued to use signs at Fauna Foundation.^[7] Her most recent study about the chimps' sign was published in 2024.^[8]

See also

• Great ape language
• List of individual apes

References

1. Fouts, Roger; Tukel Mills, Stephen (1997). Next of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught Me About Who We Are. New York: William Morrow.
2. Gardner, R. Allen; Gardner, Beatrix T.; Cantfort, Thomas E. Van (1989-07-11). Teaching Sign Language to Chimpanzees. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-0385-4.
3. "CWU Chimpanzees Arrive Safely at Canadian Sanctuary". Central Washington University. Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
4. The Calgary Herald. The Calgary Herald.
5. Greenberg, Gary; Tobach, Ethel (1987). Cognition, Language, and Consciousness: Integrative Levels. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-89859-722-6.
6. Gardner, R. Allen; Gardner, Beatrix (2013-06-17). The Structure of Learning: From Sign Stimuli To Sign Language. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-134-80514-3.
7. Kovac, Adam (February 20, 2026). "Meet Tatu and Loulis—the last of the 'talking' chimpanzees". National Geographic. Retrieved March 10, 2026.
8. Dombrausky, Kailie; Jensvold, Mary Lee (December 2023). "Chimpanzees coordinate interrogative markers to ask questions". Gesture. 22 (2).

External links

• Homepage of the Friends of Washoe