Behavioral Research: Rehumamized Chimps

After long years of studying chimpanzees, University of Amsterdam Zoologist Adriaan Kortlandt, 49, is convinced that they do not live up to their full potential. Although chimps in captivity often construct crude shelters and mimic many of man's other activities, their behavior in the wild seems far less advanced. Since they are endowed with many human-like qualities, Kortlandt asks, "why have chimpanzees in the course of their evolution not achieved a more human way of life and a corresponding level of culture?"

The answer, he believes, is that chimps are "dehumanized beings," reduced to...