Are "Humanzees" Possible?

This week's Animal Oddity asks the question whether or not it's possible for a half human, half chimpanzee to exist.

It sounds like the plot of a science fiction story. Indeed, H.G. Wells explored the idea of "Beast Folk" in his book The Island of Doctor Moreau. In the book, published in 1896 before science had the advanced knowledge of genetics we have today, Doctor Moreau used vivisection to physically change the form of animals to make them more human-like. The 1977 film version sticks to that plot point (and gave me nightmares when I saw it on TV as a little kid in the 80s) but the 1996 reboot changed the method from vivisection to genetic engineering.

Science fiction aside, it's a serious question that has a long history of being asked because the answer is yes, it's scientifically possible that a human-chimpanzee hybrid could exist. We share over 98 percent of our DNA with chimps, and while that one-plus percent is responsible for a lot of differences (just look at us side by side and that's apparent), it's still close enough that if the two species mated, a viable offspring could theoretically be produced.

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