# Human-animal Hybrids - possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463 "2008-06-10T16:51:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EverLearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EverLearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EverLearner)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/1 "2008-06-10T16:51:07Z")
If a male gorilla copulates with a woman would she get pregnant? and when are hybrids possible? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/2 "2008-06-10T17:04:09Z")
This has not been researched. Human-gorilla, Human-chimp or Human-orangutan hybrids might be possible, or might not be possible, but no scientist has ever published the results of such research, because of the ethical issues involved. The larger question, when are hybrids possible and when are they not possible, is unanswerable. We just don’t know enough to formulate a general rule. All we can say is that closely related species are usually interfertile, some crosses producing fertile hybrids and some sterile hybrids. The less closely related two species are, the less likely it is that hybrids will be produced. So lions, tigers and leopards all produce fertile hybrids. Donkeys and horses produce sterile hybrids. And even distantly related species such as llamas and camels can produce hybrids ([Cama (animal) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cama_%28animal%29)). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/3 "2008-06-10T17:06:29Z")
And wikipedia again comes to the rescue. I present: [Humanzee - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee) ---
**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:** [June 10, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/4 "2008-06-10T17:57:40Z")
[QUOTE=EverLearner] If a male gorilla copulates with a woman would she get pregnant? [/quote] We don’t know, but there are many large mammals who are at least as distantly related as humans and chimps (putting gorillas aside for the moment) who can successfully interbreed. It’s certainly in the realm of possibility, although it’s also quite possible that any offspring would be sterile. > [@](#): > > and when are hybrids possible? [A lot more often than people think.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_%28biology%29#Examples_of_hybrid_animals) Llamas and camels, lions and tigers, flase killer whales and atlantic bottle nosed dolphins… the list goes on. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/5 "2008-06-10T19:28:48Z")
A couple other things to think about: 1. The sperm first needs to survive inside the female and be able to penetrate the outer layers of the ovum. That might cause some problems that could be easily overcome in the lab. 2. Humans and chimps (as well as gorillas) have a different number of chromosomes. That may or may not be a problem (horses and donkeys differ in the number of chromosomes), but it should be noted that the human chromosome number 2 is made up of the fusion of two ancestral chromosomes that survive as separate entities in chimps (and gorillas) as their chromosomes # 2a and 2b. 3. Humans and chimps diverged from each other about 6M years ago. We both diverged from the gorilla line about 1M years earlier. We know that Chimps and Bonobos produce fertile offspring, but they only diverged from each about 2M years ago. If chimps and gorillas could hybridize, it would be very likely that humans could hybridize with either species. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/6 "2008-06-10T22:55:55Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] This has not been researched. Human-gorilla, Human-chimp or Human-orangutan hybrids might be possible, or might not be possible, but no scientist has ever published the results of such research, because of the ethical issues involved. . [/QUOTE] Didn’t Stalin order some research on this? ---
**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:** [June 10, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/7 "2008-06-10T23:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Didn’t Stalin order some research on this? [/QUOTE] Supposedly there was some research done in the former USSR (1920 or 30s, IIRC), but I don’t think it was well documented. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/8 "2008-06-10T23:38:48Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Didn’t Stalin order some research on this? [/QUOTE] I think I saw some advertisement on the History Channel recently that they were going to have a 30 or 60 minute program about the research done back then. I’m sure it was played up to lure viewers though. Probably is sketchy evidence at best. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/9 "2008-06-11T16:33:08Z")
Well, the wikipedia article claims that some shenangigans were going on during the Stalinist era. But with no published results. So perhaps it’s not technically true that there has been no research in the area. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/10 "2008-06-11T16:52:46Z")
**Scary thought regarding the ape/human cross question:** Since the notion and people’s curiousity about the possibility have existed for at least a couple of centuries, with human nature being what it is the experiment has almost certainly been performed in the past – and probably more than once. One just knows that in those atrocity situations like Experiment Station 731 and the Nazi death camps, where scientists had unlimited human subjects and weren’t answerable for their treatment, there must have been some more-inquisitive-than-ethical researchers who took advantage of their opportunity to pursue the issue – for better or worse, no records of the experiments have survived or come to public view and so the question is still open for the moment. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/11 "2008-06-11T21:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=DLuxN8R-13] \*\*…One just knows that in those atrocity situations like Experiment Station 731 and the Nazi death camps, where scientists had unlimited human subjects and weren’t answerable for their treatment, there must have been some more-inquisitive-than-ethical researchers who took advantage of their opportunity to pursue the issue – for better or worse, no records of the experiments have survived or come to public view and so the question is still open for the moment. [/QUOTE] Josef Mengele would psychologically torture female “patients” by showing them pictures of apes and telling them they’d been artificially inseminated with their seed. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/12 "2008-06-11T21:49:27Z")
[QUOTE=DLuxN8R-13] **Scary thought regarding the ape/human cross question:** Since the notion and people’s curiousity about the possibility have existed for at least a couple of centuries, with human nature being what it is the experiment has almost certainly been performed in the past – and probably more than once. One just knows that in those atrocity situations like Experiment Station 731 and the Nazi death camps, where scientists had unlimited human subjects and weren’t answerable for their treatment, there must have been some more-inquisitive-than-ethical researchers who took advantage of their opportunity to pursue the issue – for better or worse, no records of the experiments have survived or come to public view and so the question is still open for the moment. [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t be too sure. Artificial Insemination for humans was developed around the time of the war, so it would’ve been a pretty new procedure. And the Germans were notoriously good record keepers. If they did it, it would probably have been documented. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/13 "2008-06-11T22:03:23Z")
Remember that you’ve not only got to have psychopath “scientists” and an unlimited supply of prisoners that can be abused at whim, you’ve also got to have apes. Josef Mengele might have been able to torture prisoners in any way he saw fit, but that doesn’t mean he could order the delivery of fertile male chimpanzees, or chimpanzee sperm. How many chimpanzees were available in Germany during WWII, and even if there were several, how could a concentration camp comander justify to his superiors moving chimpanzees from the zoos to the camps? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/14 "2008-06-11T23:04:55Z")
Is there any DNA transplanted into a human from an animal by a retrovirus, or human DNA in any animals? I have heard that cats have some baboon DNA, and cows have some plant DNA of some sort? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/15 "2008-06-12T01:55:24Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Donkeys and horses produce sterile hybrids. [/QUOTE] Not in all cases; there are documented cases of fertile female mules, producing offspring both naturally and using modern science. > **[Mule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule)** > > The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two possible first-generation hybrids between them, the mule is easier to obtain and more common than the hinny, which is the offspring of a male horse (a stallion) and a female donkey (a jenny). > Mules vary widely in size, and may be of any color seen in horse... I suspect that, with enough cases and enough study, there will be a few cases of fertile hybrids of other species showing up too. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/16 "2008-06-12T04:53:14Z")
I agree with John. I’d also say that in the case of “natural sex” the answer is no. However, in the lab, I think it could be done. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/17 "2008-06-12T15:10:44Z")
Another way to look at it is to ask this question: Are there any two large mammal species which are genetically/evolutionarily closer to each other than humans are to chimps and which cannot hybridize? Would anyone really be surprised if chimps and gorillas could hybridize? I wouldn’t, considering all the different mammal species that can. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/18 "2008-06-12T17:18:01Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] I’d also say that in the case of “natural sex” the answer is no. However, in the lab, I think it could be done. [/QUOTE] Or maybe Ft. Lauderdale or Tijuana during Spring Break. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/19 "2008-06-12T19:33:38Z")
I think “natural sex” between a human and a chimp would be next to impossible. I’m not sure you could get a male chimp to mate with a human female and if a human male tried to mate with a chimp female, the chimp would probably rip the human’s head off. You’d probably have to use a date rape drug or otherwise sedate the chimp. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463/20 "2008-06-12T23:52:22Z")
… or maybe just a nice dinner and a movie… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-animal-hybrids-possible/452463.md?page=2)