The Fate of Sultan’s Clan

Abstract: In 1913, the Prussian Academy of Sciences established a research station on Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) to study great ape intelligence. Directed by Wolfgang Köhler from 1914 to 1920, the station produced landmark demonstrations of chimpanzee problem-solving, laying the foundation for the field of comparative psychology. When the station closed in 1920, six surviving chimpanzees (Sultan, Rana, Chica, Grande, Tercera, and Tschego) were transferred to the Berlin Zoological Gardens. This article reconstructs their fate in Berlin through an analytical process, drawing on newly uncovered archival records, correspondence, zoo reports, press accounts, and biological remains. We address three key questions: (1) How did transitioning from an enriched island environment to a frigid zoo setting affect the apes? (2) How did early 20th-century scientific paradigms influence the design and interpretation of post-Tenerife research with the chimpanzee troop? (3) What ethical concerns arise from the colony’s experiences in Berlin? Our findings reveal that nearly all the apes died within a few years, likely from a dysentery-like illness. Their final years included unprecedented and ethically questionable research under current standards, such as the first isolation-rearing study in primates. We conclude by reporting our rediscovery of the preserved remains of five troop members at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. This historical reconstruction honors the legacy of these individuals while acknowledging their history of trauma and helplessness.