The Sun
CHINESE scientists once reportedly impregnated a female chimp with human sperm in a shocking bid to create a real-life HUMANZEE.
The ape was three months pregnant when it died from neglect after the controversial project was abandoned as the Cultural Revolution swept through the country in the 1960s, a researcher involved claimed.
Dr Ji Yongxiang, speaking to a Chinese newspaper Wen Hui Boa in the 1980s, bizarrely claimed a humanzee would be able to speak to humans and would have a higher intelligence than other “animals.”
The term “humanzee” was coined later in the 20th century and refers to a human-chimp crossbreed – a scientifically possible hybridisation.
Another researcher at the Chinese Academy of Science said there were plans to resume the Frankenstein-style experiments – although it’s not clear if this ever happened.
In his interview, Dr Ji said humanzees could be used for farm work, driving carts and even exploring space and the bottom of the sea.
He even said they could be sent down dangerous mine shafts.
Dr Ji said: “If it had worked, it would have taken the medical world by surprise.”
During the Cultural Revolution – a movement which killed tens of millions in China – Dr Ji was branded a “counter-revolutionary” and was forced to work on a farm for 10 years.
A surgeon by trade, he was reportedly one of two doctors who took part in the humanzee experiment.
He said the project in Shenyang was stopped in 1967 after the lab was destroyed and researchers were attacked or arrested resulting in the pregnant chimp dying from neglect.
Dr Ji said the primary goal of the project was to develop a creature with a larger brain and mouth.
The reason chimps cannot imitate human sounds is because their mouth is too narrow, the doctor said.
The research also wanted to prove the evolutionary theory that humans and apes were “originally related” and are genetically similar enough to have children together.
Back in the 1980s, Li Guongm from the genetics research bureau of the Academy of Science, said further humanzee experiments were planned.
He said: “My personal view is that it is possible, because according to general biological distinctions, they (men and apes) belong to the same category.
“We also did experimental work on this before the Cultural Revolution, but we were stopped.
“At the moment, we plan to arrange further tests.”
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