Re: Adopted by Chimps
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Apparently not. Stories of wolf children, and children adopted by monkeys, all show them becoming exactly like their adopted species. There is apparently no ordinary human consciousness, and it doesn't develop until months or years in human company.
I don't know for certain about the veracity of these stories but they seem reliable; they're quoted in medical journals and I saw a monkey-boy interview on 60 minutes some years back.
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The book "The Tree of Knowledge: the Biological Roots of Human Understanding" addresses exactly this phenomenon, and their conclusion is largely a "no" answer to the OP's question. I highly recommend it; the authors Maturana and Varela are both PhD biologists, and they know their stuff. Some of their insights will really make you question what "being human" really means.
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