Can Gorillas and Chimpanzees mate?

[Kratology]

and if so, has there been any record of a hybrid ape? half gorilla/half chimp. and what about putting humans into the mix. can humans produce chimp/ape hybrids? from what ive read they say all of the above is possible, so i would imagine some testing being done at some point. but there isn't much on the subject.

any info would be appreciated

[MirrorImage]

and if so, has there been any record of a hybrid ape? half gorilla/half chimp. and what about putting humans into the mix. can humans produce chimp/ape hybrids? from what ive read they say all of the above is possible, so i would imagine some testing being done at some point. but there isn't much on the subject.

any info would be appreciated

try googling it

[schizoidwoman]

I have no idea whether they can or not; Mirrorimage's Google advice might be just best bet as a starter!

[Mattshark]

and if so, has there been any record of a hybrid ape? half gorilla/half chimp. and what about putting humans into the mix. can humans produce chimp/ape hybrids? from what ive read they say all of the above is possible, so i would imagine some testing being done at some point. but there isn't much on the subject.

any info would be appreciated

Potentially.

We are closer to both than they are to each other so it not unlikely that we could hybridise. It is not unlikely that they could either.

[Queen in the North]

Potentially.

We are closer to both than they are to each other so it not unlikely that we could hybridise. It is not unlikely that they could either.

You missed one major point... why would you want to?

Anyway, I started typing "gorilla huma-" into the Google toolbar, and a suggested search was "gorilla human hybrid". Seems plenty of people are asking that particular question. There is a Wikipedia page called 'Humanzee'. Also, here is some information on hybrid primates.

[Kratology]

You missed one major point... why would you want to?

Anyway, I started typing "gorilla huma-" into the Google toolbar, and a suggested search was "gorilla human hybrid". Seems plenty of people are asking that particular question. There is a Wikipedia page called 'Humanzee'. Also, here is some information on hybrid primates.

from messybeast.com:

Another unknown ape (the Koolakamba) has been reported in Africa and claimed to be a Gorilla/Chimp hybrid. Larger, flatter faced, larger skulled and more bipedal than a chimp, it may also be a mutation, in which case we are witnessing evolution in action. According to von Koppenfels in 1881: “I believe it is proved that there are crosses between the male Troglodytes gorilla and the female Troglodytes niger, but for reasons easily understood, there are none in the opposite direction. I have in my possession positive proof of this. This settles all the questions about the gorilla, chimpanzee, Kooloo Kamba, N’schigo, M’bouve, the Sokos, Baboos, etc”. Yerkes reported several "unclassifiable apes" with features intermediate between chimpanzee and gorilla in his 1929 book "A Study of Anthropoid Life".

interesting...

HUMANZEES (& OTHER CLAIMED HUMAN HYBRIDS)

A reputed "humanzee" (human/chimp hybrid) called Oliver was DNA tested and found to be a chimpanzee, albeit one which slightly differed genetically from the more familiar chimps in being bipedal and having a smaller head. Oliver may have been a mutant or represent an unknown species of ape. It is currently believed that he represents a geographical subspecies of chimpanzee. He did not associate with other chimps in captivity as was sexually attracted to human women instead. This meant he was never bred. Oliver's habitual bipedal gait is now believed to be a result of early training and habit, although he mastered it to a greater degree than most trained chimps. It's worth remembering that evolution is a never-ending process and that it's possible for bipedalism to develop in other apes. In a publicity event, a woman declared her willingness to be inseminated by Oliver (and even to have the mating filmed for scientific purposes), but this offended public sensibilities and did not happen. Had Oliver been a genuine hybrid, then like most male hybrids he would probably have been sterile anyway.

Soviet Professor Ilya Ivanov attempted to create a human-ape hybrid using female chimps impregnated and human sperm and planned to use women volunteers impregnated with chimp sperm. Ivanov's experiments have been documented by Kirill Rossiianov (Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow), "Beyond Species: Ilya Ivanov and His Experiments on Cross-Breeding Humans with Anthropoid Apes," Science in Context, 2002, p. 277-316.

In a presentation to the World Congress of Zoologists in Graz in 1910, he outlined the possibility of using artificial insemination to create a hybrid. In 1924, while working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Ivanov gained permission from the Institute's directors to use its experimental primate station in Kindia, French Guinea, for his hybridisation experiments. He requested backing for this project from the Soviet government, writing to Soviet officials including the People's Commissar on Education and Science Anatoliy Vasilievich Lunacharsky. In September 1925, Nikolai Petrovich Gorbunov, head of the Department of Scientific Institutions helped allocate US$10000 to the Academy of Sciences for Ivanov's human-ape hybridization experiments in Africa.

In March 1926 Ivanov arrived at the Kindia facility, but left after a month because the facility had no sexually mature chimpanzees. Ivanov attempted to organize the insemination of human females with chimpanzee sperm in Guinea, but the French colonial government objected to the proposal. There is no evidence such an experiment was arranged there. Back in France he corresponded with French Guinea's colonial governor and arranged to conduct his experiments at the botanical gardens in Conakry. Ivanov, assisted by his son (also called Ilya), went to Conakry in November 1926 where he oversaw the capture of adult chimpanzees in the interior of the colony. These were caged at the botanical gardens in Conakry. On February 28, 1927, Ivanov artificially inseminated 2 female chimps with human sperm (not sourced from him or his son). On June 25, he injected a third chimpanzee with human sperm. The Ivanovs left Africa in July 1927 with 13 chimps, including the 3 artificially inseminated females. They already knew that the first 2 chimps had not conceived. The third died in France and was also found not to have conceived. The remaining 10 chimps went to the Sukhumi primate station.

Ivanov returned to the Soviet Union in 1927 and attempted to organize experiments at Sukhumi using ape sperm and human females. In 1929, with the help of Gorbunov, he gained the support of the Society of Materialist Biologists (a group associated with the Communist Academy). In Spring 1929 the Society set up a commission to plan Ivanov's experiments at Sukhumi. They required at least 5 volunteer women for the project. In June 1929, before any inseminations had taken place, the only sexually mature ape remaining at Sukhumi (an orangutan) had died. A new set of chimps would not arrive at Sukhumi until Summer 1930. That year, a political shakeup in the Soviet scientific world resulted in Gorbunov and several other Sukhumi scientists losing their positions. In Spring 1930 Ivanov came under political criticism and on December 13, 1930 he was arrested and exiled to Alma Ata, where he died in 1932.

There have been persistent rumours of a Chinese humanzee experiment; the rumoured 3 month foetus died when the mother was killed during civil unrest. Allegedly scientists impregnated a female chimpanzee with human sperm and she was three months pregnant before people found out; outraged they broke into the lab in a riot, killing the pregnant chimpanzee. This must be treated as urban myth as there is no currently no evidence to support the tale and far to many claims of conspiracy theory cover-ups.

There are similar rumours of a humanzee or manpanzee experiment in the USA. In the 1960s there were persistent rumours of a Russian experiment to inseminate either a female chimpanzee or a female gorilla with human sperm. Bernard Grizmek, former Frankfurt Zoo director, wrote of rumours from the Soviet Union that the Russians had created a human/chimpanzee hybrid (probably a mis-reporting of Ilya Ivanov's experiments). More recently, a news story claimed that Stalin ordered his scientists to create an army of human/ape hybrids, because they would be less fussy about what they ate. Though nothing came of this, it may have been the origin of the rumours.

According to a tale by Peter Damain in the 11th century story “De bono religiosi status et variorum animatium tropolagia,” Count Gulielmus had both a pet ape and a wanton wife. The woman was so wanton that she allowed the ape to become her lover. The ape became jealous of the Count and when it found him lying with the Countess, the ape attacked him. The Count died of his grievous injuries. Damain had learned of this from Pope Alexander II. The pope had shown Damain a monster that was supposedly the result of the ape mating with the woman. This apelike boy was called Maimo after his simian father. If Maimo did exist, he was most likely a physically and mentally handicapped child.

In the 19th century, a Khoisan (Hottentot) woman called Saartjie Baartman was exhibited in Europe in a cage. Negro women with enlarged labia and enlarged buttocks were sometimes deemed evidence of chimp/human hybridisation; such hybrids being called a "womanzee". This was based on the supposed resemblance of their genitalia to those of female chimps and fitted with the then prevalent opinion that Negroes were inferior, or less evolved, than Europeans. Enlarged buttocks occur due to a condition called steatopygia (extreme accumulation of fat on the buttocks), while enlarged labia, or "Hottentot Apron" can be either inherited or induced/enhanced by manual stretching (in some regions they were considered attractive). Neither trait is due to hybridisation.

The idea of human/ape hybrids has fascinated people and resulted in several films or TV series, some exploring whether such hybrids would have "human rights" or simply be experimental animals for use in vivisection. It is only a matter of time before curiosity overcomes ethics and an authenticated attempt is made.

i wanna see a gorilla/chimp hybrid! a human chimp hybrid would be an abomination.

[Ignus Fatuus]

Sure ... look at Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman.

Just cant have offspring.