Are there any instances where a human has mated with a primate?

Mateo Elijah

You’re not the only pervert who’s wondered about this. For starters, the fact that HIV made the jump from African primates to humans suggests that, excuse my French, somebody fucked a chimpanzee. But the “humanzee” has been an object of interest for more than a century. There was a serious attempt in the 1920s by a Soviet biologist, Ilya Ivanov, to create such a hybrid. Apparently Chinese researchers tried in the 1960s. Neither achieved any success. But then there’s this guy:

That’s Oliver the chimpanzee. He preferentially walked upright, had a flatter face and more pronounced nose than most chimps, and apparently preferred female companionship of the human variety. He was captured in the wild ca. 1960 and may represent a previously unknown chimpanzee species.

His DNA was tested and reportedly he was determined not to be a hybrid, but really, who can you trust these days? Given current political developments, humanzees may be more common that we thought.

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