[austintorn@aol.com]

Chimps might be granted personhood someday since they obviously have consciousness and a primitive "language" of motions and looks. We still use hand motions (even on the phone) to support our words since those may have preceeded language.

We don't know how much love and caring is in chimps, other than watching them, but it is probably in proportion to their level of consciousness. Remember, we were once like them and we are all a part of the organic world, and not necessarily as special as we wish to believe.