Volume 78/Number 3
Summer 1998
Tennessee Alumnus
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Watch For The Signs

Lyn Miles taught Chantek the orangutan to sign when he was an infant. After a lengthy separation, Chantek and Miles recommence the orangutan's education.

By Leigh Anne Monitor


A hand the size of a baseball mitt emerged first from the doorway, startling Lyn Miles, a professor at UTC. Then she did a double take when she saw the 450-pound adult orangutan the hand belonged to.

It was quite a moment last October for Miles, an anthropology professor. The orangutan had been her adopted youngster and scientific learning subject for eight years on UTC's campus.

But she hadn't seen him since 1986, and she wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the sight of him.
Miles had raised the orangutan, named Chantek, like a human child. He had once worn diapers and weighed 20 pounds. The little ape became famous around Chattanooga for his UTC antics. He would open his cage with keys, then wander to Baskin-Robbins.

From 1978 to 1986, when he was with the professor, Chantek learned to use 150 words in sign language. Miles said he could use signs like a one and one-half- to two-year-old child. He formed thoughts on at least the level of a four-to five-year-old. And he also gained a concept of himself. That means he would look in the mirror and point to himself, Miles said.

But on the reunion day last fall, he was not reacting to Miles–at first.

"He ignored me," Miles said. She described the situation as being like a little boy ignoring a painful situation. "He turned his back to me for the longest time."

Chantek did eventually turn around. And he did remember Miles.

During that afternoon, the orangutan signed with Miles. Chantek had not been signing while living at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University. He had been there since leaving Miles in 1986 when he became too big for the trailer and yards where he was studied at UTC.

Zoo Atlanta, where Chantek was moved in 1997, agreed to let Miles work with him again.

"The first thing he signed was ice cream," Miles said. "I'm sure he doesn't get ice cream at his primate facilities, so I knew he recognized me. I knew in a way that there was a long journey in front of us, but I felt we had finally found a home–a place where we could be together and be with other orangutans."

Since that day, Chantek has worked with Miles twice a week. Though she still teaches anthropology classes at UTC, she moved to Atlanta to be closer to the orangutan. This summer she will begin to work with him more.

Chantek will gradually be introduced to other orangutans and eventually be put in an area where the public can see him. He has visited the orangutan outdoor trees and woodland area before, but only for a short time.

He will spend more time there once he's more familiar with the other orangutans. He also needs to lose about 175 pounds. Normal orangutan weight is 275 pounds, Miles said.

Miles said she's hopeful that he may have a family of his own at the zoo. The life span of the 20-year-old orangutan is such that he could live for 35 more years.

Perhaps he can share his human signing knowledge with his ape family, she said.

Or maybe he will learn to sign beyond a toddler's level. "Can he learn numbers?" Miles said. "To what extent will he understand time concepts–past, present, and future?"

Her goal is to evaluate how orangutans think. The zoo is hoping to raise $2 million for a school where the public can watch Chantek work with tools, a computer and sign with Miles. Zoo officials hope to build the school by the year 2000, Miles said.

Meanwhile, Chantek continues to communicate in sign language with Miles. One day recently he sat inside a cage at the zoo, while Miles stood outside.

Through sign language, she told him to use a stick to take pieces of banana from her.

Chantek picked up the stick. He stretched it between the bars, toward the piece of banana, just as Miles told him to.

This article originally appeared in the Chattanooga Times.

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