“A boy and a chimpanzee growing up together? 🤯🐵👦 Sounds strange, right?” Then you probably haven’t heard about this fascinating experiment conducted in the last century. 🧪🔬 The results shocked everyone! 😲 All the details are revealed below in the article. 📖🔍👇
Nearly 90 years ago, a highly controversial experiment was conducted—one that continues to spark debate to this day.
One of the central figures in this story was Winthrop Kellogg, a psychologist who, in the late 1920s, was searching for a groundbreaking thesis that would establish his name in the scientific world. He had always been fascinated by cases of so-called *Mowgli children*—human children raised by animals who later struggled to reintegrate into human society.
Kellogg pondered how to study the interaction between an animal and a human child in a controlled environment. Clearly, sending a baby into the wild was out of the question, so he devised a different approach—bringing an animal into a human household. Around that time, Kellogg and his wife, Luella, had just welcomed their son, Donald. Finding the right animal counterpart, however, was no easy task.
In 1931, when Donald was ten months old, the Kelloggs managed to acquire a female chimpanzee named Gua from the Yale Research Center. At just 7.5 months old, Gua was nearly the same age as their son.
The couple committed to raising Gua and Donald as equals, treating them as if they were siblings. Both had their own cribs with bedding, were dressed in children’s clothes, and played with toys. They were even provided with hygiene tools and learning materials.
Gua adapted quickly to her new environment. She preferred sleeping in a crib and became frustrated when denied a mattress. Winthrop observed that she developed faster than Donald—she quickly learned to drink from a cup, use a spoon, reach for objects, and even open doors.
However, this rapid progress was not surprising. Chimpanzees have a shorter lifespan than humans, averaging 40–45 years, and reach puberty by age four—far earlier than humans, who typically enter adolescence around 13–14 years old.
Within six months, Gua was following simple instructions and expressing her needs effectively. However, she struggled with tasks like using a potty or handling a pencil. Unsurprisingly, she also showed no ability to speak.
As Donald grew older and started to develop his language skills, something unexpected happened—he began mimicking Gua instead. He copied her sounds and movements rather than progressing with human speech.
This outcome alarmed the Kelloggs. Just ten months into the experiment, they decided to stop, concluding that a human child would imitate an ape far more easily than a chimpanzee could adapt to human behaviors.
Kellogg’s experiment became widely known and sparked intense debate. Some praised his research for its insights into development and learned behavior, while others criticized him for the ethical implications—both in relation to his son and the chimpanzee.
In 1933, Kellogg and his wife published a book detailing their observations, addressing the complex relationship between heredity and environment. However, little is known about Donald’s later life. As for Gua, she was returned to the research center, but tragically, she passed away a year later due to pneumonia.
Decades later, the experiment remains a striking example of the ethical dilemmas in scientific research.
