In 2011, a Hollywood movie "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" became popular all over the world, with a Douban score of 81 point. In the movie, Caesar, an orangutan who is used as an experiment by humans, has a high IQ after taking genetic drugs.
Unable to endure the cruelty of the care center, it uses its wits to resist humans and successfully free other orangutans from captivity.
This movie earned enough tears from the audience, however, what many people don't know is that the character of Caesar is not an imagination, but a real prototype.
It was an orangutan named Shattuck, and his story was far more legendary than the movies.
He knew human sign language, went to college, and had a human soul, but an accident changed his life and ended tragically.
At the age of 39, he died of depression, and before he died, his last wish was to eat a bite of ice cream.
Why do orangutans have human souls? It all started with an experiment.
One day in 1977, at the University of Tennessee, anthropologist Lynn was worrying with her chin on her back.
She and her colleagues are planning to work on a new topic: Is human behavior inherited or learned?
But no parent wants to let their child do such an experiment, seeing that this subject is about to be "aborted", Lynn can only sigh.
She aimlessly picked up a magazine and flipped through it, and suddenly her eyes lit up.
I saw that the ** of the orangutan was published on it with the text: "The newly born orangutan at the Primate Research Center in Atlanta." ”
Lynn was ecstatic, the orangutans were 97% genetically similar to humans, wasn't this a ready-made test subject?
Six months later, the approval process was completed, and Shattle was taken home by Lynne, and since then she has lived a very different life from her ancestors.
Lynn pointed to the newly furnished room: "Little one, you can live here in peace in the future!" ”
But Shattle could not be at peace, and on the first night, it tried to escape.
In the middle of the night, Lynn was awakened by a noise and was dumbfounded! I saw that the room was in a mess, the crib was empty, and Shattle was nowhere to be found.
Lynn searched around and finally found Shattuck curled up in a corner, his eyes full of fear.
Lynn's heart melted, and she took Shattle in her arms and whispered comfortingly, "Don't be afraid, I'm your mother." ”
Shattuck seemed to understand this, and he buried his head obediently in Lynn's arms and slowly fell asleep.
From then on, Lynn treated Shattuck as her own child, not just a simple test subject.
She took Shattuck's hand and learned to walk, played with him, drove him for a ride, told bedtime stories to lull him to sleep, kissed his forehead and said goodnight.
Neighbors often see a picture of a mother pushing a stroller with an orangutan in a diaper with a bottle in her mouth.
Shattuck quickly became accustomed to human life, and he had a strong understanding like a human child, and he mastered the ability to "read words and colors".
When he was in trouble, he would hang his head and peek at his mother with his eyes; When he is praised, he grins and dances; When criticized, he was silent, his face full of grievances.
To Lynn's surprise, her experiment was undoubtedly successful, and she had an even bolder idea:
Orangutans can't speak, but she's going to teach Shattuck how to communicate with people in sign language.
However, my colleague said, "Come on, don't be whimsical, it's impossible!" ”
Lynn disagreed, and she systematically linked language to sign language movements, and began to teach Shattuck, consciously or unconsciously.
Shattuck did not disappoint her, and after just a few times, he learned the first sign language word "mama".
Shattle excitedly gestured over and over again, like a human child showing off his newfound skills to his mother, begging for his mother's attention and praise.
Tears welled up in Lynn's eyes, the tears of a mother's pride for her child.
Shattucker made rapid progress and soon learned more than 150 words such as eating, driving, dog, ice cream, etc.
When it comes across a word it hasn't learned, it will create its own, for example, it will use a combination of tomato and toothpaste to represent ketchup.
This made Lynn realize that there was more potential for the smart Shattleck, and Lynn decided to let him go to school and develop his intelligence.
The news that orangutans are going to go to school with humans has become a sensational news in the local area.
Shattucker successfully entered kindergarten and learned with the children how to adapt to the rules of human society.
He learned to sit upright, with his hands crossed at his desk, to listen carefully, and to tidy up his room.
Mom taught Shattle about the concept of money again. As long as Shattle does housework, tidying up the yard, etc., he can get a small iron ring similar to money, which can be exchanged for his favorite items.
Shattuck's greatest pleasure is to exchange hoops for ice cream, then sit on the lawn and lick and eat beautifully, enjoying the joy of labor.
One day, he suddenly stopped switching to ice cream. It turned out that he had his eye on a bicycle.
In order to buy the car he wants, he "endures the pain" and gives up the deliciousness, works harder, and even helps his neighbors take out the garbage to "earn extra money". After realizing his dream, he laughed and rode his bicycle around the yard.
After kindergarten, Lynne took Shattucker to the University of Tennessee, where she worked, and Shattuck became an enviable college student.
Lively and studious, he mingled with college students and learned a variety of new skills: playing computers, chess, etc.
When there are no classes, Shattke spends his bicycle swinging around the campus.
A few years later, his ** appeared in the graduation book with the fresh graduates, which was the first highly educated person in the history of orangutans.
I thought that the days would continue to be so happy, but who knows, an accident brought happiness to an abrupt end.
Lynn was in class when she suddenly received an urgent call: "Shattle has attacked a girl!" ”
Lynn hurried to the principal's office. As soon as he saw his mother, Shattle was so aggrieved that he burst into tears, and he gestured: "Mom, I'm sorry, I just want to play with her." ”
Lynn certainly believes that Shattle will not attack humans. However, the principal did not believe it, and he believed in the tears of the girls even more.
The headmaster called Lynn aside and said, "It's grown up, you can't control its bestiality, send it away!" ”
But Headmaster, you know he's always been very well-behaved, and this is just a misunderstanding, and I promise I won't do it again next time! ”
What guarantees do you take? It is very dangerous when it comes to estrus, who will keep the students safe? Remember, this is a school, not a place for livestock! ”
No matter what Lynn said, the headmaster was determined to send Shattuck away.
The police arrived and surrounded Shattleke.
Shattuck was horrified, he couldn't understand why people who had been friendly before had suddenly changed their horrible faces.
They shot at Shattuck with ***, and Shattuck only felt that it was dark in front of him, and he quickly lost consciousness.
"Please, don't hurt it! Lynn's heart was broken, and she pleaded, but she could only watch as Shattle was carried away by several men and put in a police car with a cage
Shattke was sent back to his birthplace and put in an iron cage as a wild animal.
When he woke up and saw a cold iron cage, he begged "Let me out!" "But it didn't work.
Shattle angrily grabbed the iron cage and shook it, trying to open the cell door, but his hands were bleeding due to the force, but he got a tranquilizer.
Lynn was so anxious that she ran to the research center and asked to take Shattle home. However, her application was rejected on the grounds that she wanted to ensure the safety of the local population.
Lynn could only drive more than 2 hours a day to visit Shattuck, hoping to give him some comfort.
Seeing his mother, Shattke, who was huddled in the corner, would take his mother's hand and put it on the lock, gesturing with tears:
"Mom, find the key and open the door! "I want to hang out! "Mom, drive me home!" ”
Lynn didn't dare to look into Shattle's expectant eyes, and she stopped talking, "Listen baby, you have to." Stay at ease, learn to adapt to life here, and Mom will find another way.
Shattuck's hand on the lock slowly drooped down, looking lonely, and he knew that he would never be free again.
Since then, he has often sat in silence in the corner, sitting for hours at a time, without moving, which worries Lynn.
Once, she asked Shattle if he was ** unwell? Shattuck said it hurt, and Lynn eagerly asked if it was ** injured? Unexpectedly, Shattke pointed to his heart and gestured and said, "My heart hurts!" ”
This made Lynn's heart twist, Shattuck is no longer an ordinary orangutan, he has flesh and blood, soul and emotion!
In those days, Lynn continued to travel for Shattuck's freedom, and finally ushered in the good news, 11 long years have passed.
Lynn can't wait to tell Shattke, "Honey, you can go to the zoo, there will be your friends there!" ”
Shattuck was neither happy nor sad, he just stared blankly at the sky outside the iron cage.
In the past 11 years, everything has long been different, and the 9-year-old little clever ghost Shattle is now bloated and has dark eyes.
No one knows how much despair he experienced, and he began to give up on himself, overeat, and even suffer from depression.
Before going to Zoo Atlanta, Lynn talked to him: "Shattuck, tell Mom, are you a human or an orangutan?" ”
Shattucker drew the word "human" without thinking, and then he hesitated. After a long pause, he drew a lonely gesture to the word "orangutan", coining a new term of his own, "orangutan", saying that he was both a human and an orangutan.
After arriving at the zoo, Shattle did not get the happiness he expected, but a deeper loneliness.
He didn't fit in with the orangutans there.
When Lynn visits Shattleke, she notices that he has occasional scars on his body, and Shattle cries, "Those orange dogs are bullying me".
In his eyes, the orangutan is an "orange dog", and he has long been unable to integrate into the world of the orangutan.
This is a deeply powerless point, whether it is Shattuck or Lynn.
At the age of 39, the lonely Shattle passed away, leaving forever the world that he once cherished so much, and later left him without love.
Linth will always remember the last time she went to see Shattleck.
At that time, Shattuck's sign language function had been severely degraded, and he drooped his head, tremblingly handed his mother a small iron ring, and carefully gestured: "Mom, change the ice cream." ”
At that moment, it was as if time had passed.
With tears in her eyes, Lynn seemed to see little Shattle raise his hand holding the small iron hoop high, smile happily at herself, and wait for the ice cream to change.
It turned out that for so many years, he had been cherishing this small iron ring.
Countless dark nights and lonely days, he would caress this little iron ring, reminiscing about those happy times that are long gone.
How can eating ice cream become Shattleck's last wish?
What's even more infuriating is that after Shattuck's death, the girl finally told the truth out of guilt, it turned out that Shattuck did not attack her, but only missed because of her strength, and she screamed because she was afraid.
However, poor Shattle lost 30 years of his freedom because of a lie.
I could have tolerated the darkness if I hadn't seen the sun.
He was originally an orangutan, but he was raised **; But when he gets used to being a human, he is forced to be an orangutan again.
Shattke never had a choice when it came to all this. From the time he was born, the world he saw was a cold laboratory, and he was destined to be just an experiment for humans.
Humans have given him warmth, but they have also given him the deepest hurt.
Why is it that human beings can be forgiven for their mistakes, and yet he, for a small mistake, should be sentenced to life imprisonment?
May Shattuck be a real person in the afterlife! Or, an original orangutan.
This is the story of an orangutan whose name is Shattuck, you, remember?