There are a bunch of cross species hybrids out there: mules, ligers
zebroids, beefalo, we recently discussed the majestic grolar bear
but we tend to think of humans on a different level from that.
We are human, there's no species even close to us; how could we possibly interbreed with
something-- also, blegh! But guess what?
It's been done.
And some say it could be done again.
It's been done because we all have a little bit of Neanderthal in us, as
we've discussed previously on SciShow,
the average European is one to four percent Neanderthal.
So, in effect,
we are all inter-species hybrids - though that DNA has become so ingrained in our
species that basically it's part of what makes us human - but the more frightening
and fascinating question to ask is 'could it happen again?' Many have asked and
some have even had the urge to try to discover whether it is possible to
interbreed humans
and our nearest genetic relatives, chimpanzees. Now before we proceed any
further, let's be clear that the official position of SciShow, and hopefully of
humanity is that this is a terrible idea. It is deeply immoral; the creation of a
potentially sentient organism,
likely with many genetic disorders, who was the only member of his' or her's
species, so that we can study it for science, is bad and wrong and pretty much
the definition of evil.
But,
it is nonetheless a fascinating thing to discuss, as long as we're not actually
thinking about doing it.
So first,
is it possible?
Well humans and chimps do share a lot of DNA.
They do have one more pair of chromosomes than humans, but different
numbers of chromosomes isn't an absolute barrier to interbreeding. In fact there are
some species were individuals within that species, have different numbers of
chromosomes and they managed just fine; a condition known as chromosomal
polymorphism.
In fact, in 2010 a perfectly normal fertile Chinese man was discovered to
have a only twenty-two chromosome pairs.
In the end
the genetic difference between human and a chimpanzee, is roughly the same as the
genetic difference between a horse and a zebra;
and zebra-horse hybrids happen all the time.
A quick note on terminology here, when geneticists create these name mashups - which they actually
do for hybrid animals - they put the father first in the portmanteau
mother's second, so if it's a male chimpanzee and a female human, that's a 'chuman'
and if it's a male human, and a female chimpanzee,
that's a humanzee
or
a manpanzee.
Yeah manpanzee.
In 2006, genetic researches suggested that after
the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees - which lived between 5 and 7 million years ago -
there was interbreeding between the human and chimpanzee lineages for 1.2 million years.
That's not that surprising, since those lineages would likely have been very similar
and living in the same geographies, but it was a bit of a shock to paleoanthropologists
when the news broke.
There's no evidence however, of recent human chimpanzee hybrids, though not for lack of trying.
In the 1920s, a soviet biologist 'Ilya Ivanov', implanted in his own sperm into a number of apes,
including chimpanzees and orangutans.
Even more creepily he attempted to inseminate human volunteers with ape semen.
The good news is, he was never able to do that. The bad news is, it was because all of his primate test subjects
had died likely due to being severely mistreated. Ivanov's research never resulted in a pregnancy of any
kind and eventually his research came under scrutiny - somewhat unsurprisingly -
the government freaked out and exiled him to Kazakhstan, and he died there a couple years later.
That terrible research is the extent of what we know
for sure, about whether human chimp hybrids are possible
and with luck,
it's the most we will ever know for sure. Whether or not it can be done I hope
we can all agree that it shouldn't. Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow
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