Have apes and humans ever mated and produced offspring?
No, there are differences in the chromosome count. That would preclude most if not all attempts. We could probably engineer one now though.
You might google Zana the ape woman for a legend from the late 1800s. I couldn’t find a site that I would call reputable (but I didn’t look too hard.)
Pedantic answer: Apes is another word for members of Hominoidea (sp?), which includes humans, so yes.
More meaningful answer: There are a few rumors of “Humanzees”, but none have actually been confirmed.
I’m pretty sure I went to high school with some of them, and they tormented me in gym class.
Donkey’s and horses also have different chromosome counts, but they can still get it on and produce mules.
True, but it doesn’t take every time. I don’t think that there are a lot of people lining up try out the humanzee. I believe that the mule thing only works one way in terms of the parents as well.
No that was just a Neanderthal, just a different branch of the hominid tree. 
Biologically, the mule thing works both ways. Most mules result from the mating of a mare and a jackass, but a jenny ass and a stallion can (and do) produce offspring. For reasons that have never been clear to me, the offspring of a jenny and a stallion is usually called a hinny rather than a mule. Some people say that it’s easier for a jackass to get a mare pregnant than it is for a stallion to get a jenny pregnant.
Gotta agree with you about the humanzee, though.
We’ve had a number of previous threads on this topic.
There are no confirmed cases of any human-ape hybrids. Given the significant anatomical differences between humans and chimpanzees, our closest relatives among the apes, in my opinion hybridization is unlikely. However, more distantly related and more dissimilar animals have produced hybrids, so it is theoretically not impossible.
Differences in chromosome count are mainly significant in determining whether a hybrid may be fertile or not. However, there are cases in which fertile hybrids can be produced from parents with different chromosome counts.
The cross works both ways. Male donkey + female horse = mule; male horse + female donkey = hinny.
A mule is by definition the product of a male donkey/female horse. The other way works, but the product is called a hinny. According to wikipedia, they are harder to breed then a mule, though.
In anycase, most of the humanzee rumours involve scientists fertilizing eggs in-vitro, rather then more…er…natural means. The wikipedia page on humanzees has a run down of such attempts, which apparently haven’t been successful, but at least one suggested it might be possible, though obviously its not an area of research that people are rushing to fund.
Same reason they call one a Liger and the other a Tigon.
first part of sire’s name + second part of dam’s name.
I’d be interested to see a Humanzee/Chuman. I’d say that, while it would be a long process, it’s probably possible to make a Humanzee/Manpanzee, although I can’t see a lot of women lining up to have baby Chumans…
One Russian scientist trid to do it. by artificially inseminating chimps with human sperm.
Of course, his experiments were usuccessful.
From an other Wikipedia article: Humanzee - Wikipedia