From attempts to inseminate a female chimpanzee with human sperm to ominous rumors about the origins of a performing chimp named Oliver, the mission to create a "humanzee" is one of the strangest in modern scientific history.
In the 1970s, a performing chimp known as Oliver was promoted as a possible “humanzee,” but it was later confirmed via DNA testing and further scientific examination that he was a full chimpanzee after all.
Chimpanzees are the closest living relatives to human beings, aside from bonobos. Not only do humans and chimps share a lot of DNA, but their bodies and behaviors have notable similarities. Perhaps that’s why a few people have proposed the bizarre idea of a “humanzee.”
The idea of a human-chimp hybrid dates back centuries, with the hypothetical animal mostly appearing in folklore. But it wasn’t until the early 20th century that a Russian biologist named Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov made a serious scientific attempt to create one. Since then, there have been other rumored attempts, including one in China in the 1960s, and one unverified claim alleges that a live humanzee was created in a U.S. lab in the 1920s.
To this day, no real humanzee has ever been confirmed to have existed, and it’s unclear whether such an animal could thrive. Even if it is possible, there are many ethical and moral debates surrounding the hypothetical hybrid, from the process used to create one to what the creature’s life might look like. However, that hasn’t stopped some from trying to develop a humanzee — or spreading rumors that a humanzee has already been born.
The Controversial Hybrid Experiments Proposed By Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov
Wikimedia CommonsIlya Ivanovich Ivanov, a Russian biologist who made the first known scientific attempts to create a humanzee.
Russian biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was known for his once-revolutionary method for artificially inseminating domestic animals at the turn of the 20th century. Though some of his experiments were practical, as he hoped to create new horse breeds that could withstand harsh winters, others were eyebrow-raising, like his crossbreeding of a zebra and a Przewalski’s horse.
But by far his most infamous experiment was his mission to create a humanzee. Starting in 1910, Ivanov began telling zoologists that a human-chimp hybrid might be a scientific possibility. By the 1920s, he was putting specific plans in place to actually attempt the creation of such an animal.
He stressed to the Academy of Sciences that his experiment would prove Charles Darwin right about how closely related humans were to other primates, and he also claimed that it could be a compelling argument against religion, which the Bolsheviks wanted to stamp out at the time.
According to New Scientist, some have speculated that Ivanov may have hoped to transform society as a whole through his experiment. Bizarrely, it’s also been rumored that Ivanov was secretly working on a separate experiment to help rejuvenate older politicians, and the humanzee mission was considered just strange enough to cover up the other scheme.
Wikimedia CommonsA comparison of human and chimpanzee skulls and brains, illustrated by Paul Gervais in 1854.
In 1926, Ivanov left for Guinea, which was then part of French West Africa. While in the country, he visited a new primate center and also captured some chimps of his own, and he soon transplanted a human ovary into one female chimp and inseminated her with human sperm. He later inseminated three other female chimps, but none of these tests led to a humanzee.
Ivanov then tried to organize a far more horrific experiment — inseminating human women with chimp sperm without their knowledge. He hoped to trick women in Guinea by claiming he was performing a medical examination on them, but fortunately, the French governor forbade him from doing this.
Shockingly, when Ivanov went to the Soviet republic of Abkhazia to place his chimps in an ape nursery, he was able to find five Soviet women who were willing to carry humanzee babies in the interest of scientific “progress.”
However, Ivanov’s animals did not thrive in his facility, and before long, his last surviving primates were dead. Furthermore, word got out about Ivanov’s disturbing plans to inseminate African women without their consent, leading the Academy of Sciences to condemn him and withdraw their support.
By this point, Ivanov had also made a number of scientific enemies, one of whom accused him of “sabotage,” leading to his arrest by the secret police in 1930. He was exiled to Kazakhstan, where he died soon afterward. However, his bizarre mission to create a humanzee somehow lived on.
Inside The Persistent Rumors About Humanzees
FacebookOliver the chimpanzee became the subject of false rumors that he was a humanzee, due to his human-like appearance, his preference for walking upright, and his alleged sexual advances toward human women.
In the 1970s, a chimp known as Oliver was promoted as a possible “humanzee” or “missing link” in the United States. Reportedly captured in the Congo, Oliver was purchased by Frank and Janet Berger in 1960. The New Jersey trainers ran a sideshow act, and Oliver was initially meant to be just another animal performer entertaining the audiences.
But the Bergers noticed that Oliver stood out among the other chimps, due to his human-like appearance, his preference for walking upright, and his alleged sexual advances toward human women — including Janet. As she recalled, “He wouldn’t attack you or anything, but he would kiss and hug you, and wouldn’t let go. At that point, we decided it was time for Oliver to go.”
Oliver was purchased by a New York lawyer named Michael Miller, who capitalized on Oliver’s unusual appearance and behavior and marketed him as a potential missing link. The chimp was later sold to a small theme park in California. Eventually, he fell into the hands of owners who claimed he had 47 chromosomes, one more than a human and one less than a chimpanzee. Before long, rumors emerged that Oliver was a humanzee, perhaps the product of an illicit experiment conducted in the U.S. or China.
However, it was later confirmed via DNA testing and thorough scientific examination that Oliver was a full chimpanzee. Though his human-like qualities remain perplexing to this day, it’s believed that he simply picked up many of his behaviors due to spending so much time with humans and grew to appreciate their companionship a little more than the average chimp. There’s also the possibility that he thought he was human.
Then, in the 1980s, a Chinese researcher named Ji Yongxiang came forward to claim that he had been involved in a 1960s project to create a humanzee in Shenyang. According to the researcher, the experiment was already underway before it was forced to end amidst the Cultural Revolution.
Allegedly, a female chimp had been impregnated with human sperm and she was three months pregnant when she died from neglect, as the lab she was in was destroyed and the researchers working on her were arrested.
Ji Yongxiang also made a number of odd claims about what the humanzee would have been like if the creature had been born. He believed that the human-chimp hybrid would have been able to speak to humans and that the animal could also help humans explore space and the world’s oceans.
Li Guong, a genetics research expert, was quoted not only confirming Ji Yongxiang’s report in the 1980s, but also expressing hope for more humanzee experiments: “My personal view is that it is possible, because according to general biological distinctions, they [men and apes] belong to the same category… At the moment, we plan to arrange further tests.”
Where The Humanzee Idea Stands Today
Alain Houle/BMC EcologyAn adult female chimpanzee in Uganda, pictured with her infant.
Though the idea of a humanzee remains obscure and taboo to this day, the hypothetical hybrid emerges in the news every so often.
In 2018, evolutionary psychologist Gordon Gallup said that there was a rumor that a humanzee was born in the 1920s, in an Orange Park, Florida lab.
Gallup claimed his former university professor told him this: “They inseminated a female chimpanzee with human semen from an undisclosed donor and claimed not only that pregnancy occurred but the pregnancy went full term and resulted in a live birth. But in the matter of days, or a few weeks, they began to consider the moral and ethical considerations, and the infant was euthanized.” However, this report remains unsubstantiated.
In 2019, reports emerged that a group of Spanish and American scientists produced monkey embryos containing human cells. This was done in a Chinese lab “to avoid legal issues.” But the process was stopped long before the “human-monkey chimera” could actually be born, and it’s believed that this research is primarily focused on the goal of using animals for human organ transplants, rather than bringing full-term hybrids into the world.
Unsurprisingly, the idea of actually creating a humanzee brings up a number of ethical debates about whether it’s morally right to develop such a creature. It also raises a number of questions. Would a human-chimp hybrid function more like a human or a chimpanzee? Would it be able to reason? Would it be able to speak? And if it were able to reach human intelligence and experience human emotions, how would it feel about its origins?
It’s one thing to ponder about a hypothetical creature, but another entirely to bring it to life. Even if we can, that doesn’t mean we should.
Next, read about Ham the chimp, the animal astronaut who became the first chimpanzee in space. Then, check out a recent study that claims that chimpanzees may be capable of human speech.
