Question

What is the main idea of the section “The Legal Argument?”


The question of whether a chimp should be treated as a “legal person” in the eyes of the law was rejected, but more lawsuits will be filed.


Chimps should be treated the same as a “legal person.”


Stephen M. Wise argued that a chimp is a “legal person” and should be treated as such.


Chimps are not human and therefore will not be treated as a “legal person.”

Reading Passage
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Chimps and Us

1 Humans have had a long and complicated history with chimpanzees. Mostly, we have viewed chimps as inferior animals, without feelings and without much intelligence. However, with increasing knowledge of chimpanzees and their capabilities, our ideas have undergone a radical change. In fact, since the mid-1960s, when primatologist Jane Goodall's work with chimps shocked the world, attitudes toward chimpanzees have been transformed.

First Contact

2 Chimpanzees are native to Africa. No one knows when chimps and humans first came into contact, but it seems certain that Africans have long interacted with chimps. Other early human-chimp interactions can be assumed from the long history of zoos, which date from 5,500 years ago or more. Still, no one is sure when a chimp first appeared in a zoo. The first modern zoo, built in Paris in 1793, probably had at least one or two chimps or other great apes.

3 We do know that the use of chimps for science, in entertainment, and as pets, goes back hundreds of years. In 1697 or 1698, one unlucky chimp was captured in Angola in Africa and shipped in a crate to London, England. Dead on arrival, the chimp still proved useful: its dissection led to some of the earliest understandings of human and primate similarities. We also know that some Europeans kept chimps as pets in the early 1700s.

Chimps Go to Work

4 As more contact occurred between the West and Africa during the 1800s and 1900s, interactions between Westerners and chimps greatly expanded. During these years, people in Western countries put chimps to work as entertainers in circuses, zoos, and movies.

Answer 1

The first choice. The section explains that attempts to have chimps recognized as “legal persons” were rejected by the courts, but more lawsuits challenging that decision are expected.