# Could a Human/Chimp Pairing Produce Offspring? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106 "2003-05-23T20:38:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/1 "2003-05-23T20:38:57Z")
I’ve _heard_ that the difference in the difference between horses and donkeys is similar to the differences between humans and chimps. Donkeys and horse make mules. \*\*Could a human and chimp make a humanzee? \*\* ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/2 "2003-05-23T20:56:16Z")
Good question. Good, disgusting question. In short, nah. Donkeys and horses speciated much more recently than the ancestors that led to chimps and humans. They’re part of the same genus, equus. Humans are the only in the same order as chimps, primates. Humans are the only members of our own genus currently living, genus homo. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/3 "2003-05-23T21:00:13Z")
Well, some might say that [this site](http://www.bushorchimp.com) depicts such a creature. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/4 "2003-05-23T21:02:25Z")
This has been discussed several times before. Here’s one thread :[Can Humans and Chimps Breed?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=64664) In my opinion, it could be possible that humans and chimps could produce a viable hybrid. It’s impossible to determine this in advance, however. It’s pretty certain, though, that a hybrid would be sterile, because of differing numbers of chromosomes in humans and chimps. **pravnik** , humans and chimps are close enough genetically that some scientists have proposed we should be in the same genus. By the standards applied to many other organisms, that would be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/5 "2003-05-23T21:09:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pravnik \* > **They’re part of the same genus, equus. Humans are the only in the same order as chimps, primates.** There is a recent effort to put chimpanzees into the homo genus because they are much more closely related to us than to other apes. Keep in mind that taxanomic names have been tradtionally given by appearance and only recently has genetic mapping been used. > **[MSNBC News - Breaking News and News Today | Latest News](https://www.msnbc.com/)** > > MSNBC breaking news and the latest news for today. Get daily news from local news reporters and world news updates with live audio & video from our team. As for the OP you may have to \*\*\*\* a chimp to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/6 "2003-05-23T21:28:21Z")
In any case, there are many instances of intergeneric hybrids in animals. While the ability to hybridize tends to be correlated with genetic distance, species that are quite distantly related have been known to hybridize. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/7 "2003-05-23T21:31:27Z")
I didn’t know that. Learn somethin new every day on this board, I tells ya. Looking at the article it, appears chimps and humans have been tracked as branching off between 5-6 million years ago. Horses and donkeys apparently branched off about 2-4 million years ago. One thing about horses and donkeys; not only can they produce offspring, they _want_ to. Very much so. If you’ve ever had a stallion look amorously and intently at a jenny you’re riding, you’ll know what I mean. It’s a look that will stay with you. So, assuming chimps and humans can’t produce offspring and don’t want to\*, what a difference a few million years makes. \*This may be an unwarranted assumption. I have seen chimps that did appear to wish to mate with me, but only with the same half interest that they wanted to fling poo at me. ---
**Author:** ![drhess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@drhess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drhess)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/8 "2003-05-23T21:33:14Z")
Yah, but can you mail order a hot looking chimp? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_E\_Dec\_Esq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Francis\_E\_Dec\_Esq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_E_Dec_Esq)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/9 "2003-05-23T21:46:32Z")
It was once thought that [Oliver](http://robotics.stanford.edu/~oli/oliver.html) might be a “humanzee” but tests revealed otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/10 "2003-05-23T21:46:33Z")
I certainly don’t know enough about biology to answer the OP, so I will have to defer to **Colibri** there, but I would be willing to bet that it is NOT possible for humans and chimps to produce a hybrid offspring. No one has ever produced a chimpanzee/human hybrid. As far as I know there aren’t even any rumors of sightings of ‘humanzees’. We could assume that this is because no man has ever considered having intercourse with a chimpanzee, but would such an assumption be reasonable? I don’t think it would be. If humans and sheep or humans and dogs could produce hybrids, we’d be seeing hybrids all over the place. But we don’t see any humanzees. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say that such breeding is impossible. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/11 "2003-05-23T21:46:37Z")
I’ve always been fascinated by that question. Chimps have one more chormosome than humans (one of ours is a fused version of two ape chromosomes) but this hasn’t prevented other animals from pruducing viable, if sterile, offspring. Camels have been crossed with a species of llama (can’t remember which one) and they are thought to have branched off 11M yrs ago. Here’s an equally interesting question, and one that avoids the ethical issues of doing the experiment: Coud chimps and gorillas interbreed? If they could, seems like it would be possible for humans and chimps to do so. I’ve done a bunch of googling on the chimp/gorilla question and always come up dry. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/12 "2003-05-23T21:51:17Z")
[it was an Alpaca](http://www.alpacaregistry.net/journal/spr2000_04.html) crossed with a camel. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/13 "2003-05-23T22:32:12Z")
… And for that matter, how about a chimp and a bonobo? If they can’t, I’d expect the human/chimp deal not to work either. I’d expect that any of those attemts at hybridization would need multiple tries to evalute success/failure. And perhaps there are techniques of IVF that could be used to make it succeed in the lab where it might not _in vivo_, or by simple articicial insemination methods. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/14 "2003-05-23T22:32:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Surreal \* > \*\*I certainly don’t know enough about biology to answer the OP, so I will have to defer to **Colibri** there, but I would be willing to bet that it is NOT possible for humans and chimps to produce a hybrid offspring. > > No one has ever produced a chimpanzee/human hybrid. As far as I know there aren’t even any rumors of sightings of ‘humanzees’. We could assume that this is because no man has ever considered having intercourse with a chimpanzee, but would such an assumption be reasonable? I don’t think it would be. > > If humans and sheep or humans and dogs could produce hybrids, we’d be seeing hybrids all over the place. But we don’t see any humanzees. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say that such breeding is impossible. \*\* Well, there’s a difference between _highly unlikely_ and _impossible._ I’ll grant you that, given the sexual proclivities of humans, the experiment has no doubt. Whether it has been made often enough to rule out the possibility that such a thing could ever occur is arguable. However, even if hybridization is not possible _in vivo_ - possibly due to incompatible secretions in the reproductive tract or other factors - it’s conceivable (no pun intended) that hybridization could be engineered in the lab using . _in vitro_ techniques. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/15 "2003-05-23T22:44:16Z")
Colibri: That’s our second mind meld this week, only this time my post made it first. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/16 "2003-05-23T22:50:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*Colibri: > > That’s our second mind meld this week, only this time my post made it first. \*\* I must be slipping . . . 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/17 "2003-05-23T22:55:34Z")
Colibri: Actually, I was very interested in your thoughts on the chimp/bonobo/gorilla hybrid. Any comments? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/18 "2003-05-23T23:06:45Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s pretty certain, though, that a hybrid would be sterile, because of differing numbers of chromosomes in humans and chimps. That doesn’t mean much. Przwalski and domestic horses are 100% interfertile depite differing choromosome counts. Cattle and bison are resonably interfertile, horses and donkey are occasionally interfertile. The difference in chromosome number is probbaly less of a barrier than straight the devolopmental differences. I also wouldn’t believe that too many peolpe have tried having sex with chimps. Aside from the simpl fact that very few peolpe have access to chimpanzees, chimps are big animals, and unwanted advances would probably result in a very painful experience. Bonobo are slightly smaller, but I still wouldn’t want an irate female bonobo near my unprotected, umm, equipment. Those things have got \*fangs[/i. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/19 "2003-05-23T23:12:35Z")
Blake: But I think it’s safe to say that the sheep/human experiment has been tired enough to know that it doesn/t work. After all, there are no “Hu-eep” in New Zealand!😃 Althought there might be a few she-man… ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106/20 "2003-05-23T23:26:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\*Colibri: Actually, I was very interested in your thoughts on the chimp/bonobo/gorilla hybrid. Any comments? \*\* That could be of some interest, but I’m not sure it would prove anything. Although we may be closer to chimps genetically than either of us are to gorillas, chimps and gorillas are _structurally and morphologically_ much more similar to each other. Humans proportionately have much longer legs, shorter arms, and of course much larger craniums than either. It has been suggested that these differences are generated by mutations to the genes that regulate development (as opposed to those that govern enzymes or structural proteins). For example, our legs develop at a much more rapid rate than those of apes, thus resulting in their hypertrophy. If this is the case, then a chimp-human hybrid embryo could easily experience a conflict in developmental rates produced by the two sets of genes that could be lethal, whereas these rates would not be so mismatched, and thus not fatal, for a chimp-gorilla hybrid. There is also the matter that chimps and gorillas have the same chromosome number, while we have one fewer, though this might not cause developmental problems. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-chimp-pairing-produce-offspring/177106.md?page=2)