Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uoft02.utoledo.edu!desire!sbishop
From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Man vs Woman vs Chimp DNA Percentages
Message-ID: <1269.26fc9b0b@desire.wright.edu>
Date: 23 Sep 90 16:22:51 GMT
References: <1803@anaxagoras.ils.nwu.edu> <68103@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>  
 <7713@milton.u.washington.edu>,<999@massey.ac.nz> <0093D12D.0754D500@wystan.bsd.uchicago.edu> <15067@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Lines: 42

In article <15067@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>, overt@antony (Christian Overton) writes:
> In article <999@massey.ac.nz>, AChamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove) writes:
>>Over the past few years, there has been a lot of debate on the following
>>question: 
>>If chimps and humans are so close genetically, then why can we not make
>>hybrids?  Of course a lot of people say that we can and could.  Others
>>say that there are incompatibilites, but no one I have encountered has
>>been able to specify what those incompatibilites are. Can you?
>>arnold
> 
> I've heard unsubstantiated stories that viable human/chimp hybrids have been
> born.  The first rumor I remember is the report of a primate being kept in a
> cage somewhere in Africa during the early part of this century. The primate was
> more human looking than either a chimp or gorilla, but clearly not human.  The
> conjecture was that it was a human/chimp hybrid.
> 

It is possible that the primate was a pygmy chimp, otherwise known as a Bonomo. 
They are much more 'human' in appearance than other chimps, have a more erect
posture, often walk on two feet and are considered more intelligent.  They are
considered a sub-species of chimpanzee.  I have seen the pair at the Cincinnati
Zoo.  They do look quite different from other chimps and the zoo has a drawing
showing the fossil skeleton of Lucy (anthropological discovery from Africa of
early human remains) and the skeleton of a chimp.  The simularities are
remarkable.  So far, genetic research has not gotten precise enough to note the
exact differences between Bonomos and regular chimpanzees. 

For the interested person, a visit to the Cincinnati Zoo might be worthwhile. 
The zoo is small but has a national reputation for breeding indangered species
and has been the recipient of many breeding pairs from other zoos.

> The second rumor is that China had successfully bred human/chimp hybrids, but
> that these were all destroyed during the cultural revolution and the experiments
> abandoned.
> 
> Unfortunately, at the moment I can't remember the sources of either rumor other
> than that the sources were reputable.  Well ok, at least I'm pretty sure I
> didn't read them in a science fiction story.  Has anybody else out there heard
> these or similar stories?
> 

I would also be very interested in hearing of any sources.