Panbanisha’s Birthday is Nov. 17

Today was Panbanisha’s birthday. She was born on November 17, 1985 at the Language Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, a research facility on 55 acres of forest owned by Georgia State University.

She was raised from birth by Dr. Sue Savage Rumbaugh, Dr. Duane Rumbaugh, Liz Rubert-Pugh, and many great and dedicated staff members at the facility.

Her name in Swahili means, “To cleave together for the purpose of contrast” because Panbanisha was raised side-by-side with a chimpanzee sister named Panzee as part of a study into whether her brother Kanzi broke the human/ape language barrier because of genetics of his species or because of the method of his rearing.

The Twitter feed AmericansBorn that lists people born each day of the year who have made an impact on our culture, including artists, writers, politicians, and athletes, broadcast that Panbanisha was born on November 17.

“1985 – Panbanisha, American chimpanzee (d. 2012)” — tweeted by AmericansBorn

We don’t know who the tweeter is, but it’s significant that Panbanisha made the list.