Jennie is the fictional account of a chimpanzee named Jennie Archibald based on real-life histories of four chimpanzees who were raised as children in human families: Meshie Mungkut, Lucy Temerlin, Vickie Hayes, and Nim Chimopsky--all of whom eventually died under tragic and even horrifying circumstances. All the scientific experiments described in this novel actually took place, under slightly different circumstances.