# Baby Fae,  what's the deal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-fae-whats-the-deal/33803>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 20, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-fae-whats-the-deal/33803 "2000-09-20T00:14:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kvallulf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Kvallulf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kvallulf)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-fae-whats-the-deal/33803/1 "2000-09-20T00:14:02Z")

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Why was Baby Fae given a baboon heart, instead of a chimps?

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-fae-whats-the-deal/33803/2 "2000-09-20T03:05:01Z")

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[This site](http://riceinfo.rice.edu/armadillo/Sciacademy/riggins/genesis.htm) claims it’s because the surgeon was a creationist, and therefore didn’t believe that baboons were any more or less related to humans than chimps (or bacteria, for that matter). That seems to be backed up by [this transcript](http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/hstories/hr150101.htm) of a radio interview with the surgeon in question, Dr. Leonard Bailey.