Disturbing photo: first human-ape hybrid

[yurbud]

She was born in a zoo in Romania, probably the daughter of one of the zoo keepers.

They thought her hairlessness was a mutation or disease, but they tested her DNA and found she was at least half human.

[crim son]

1. I expected a picture of the pretzel.

I am rather depressed at the idea that this is a child of a zookeeper. But apparently we are animals. Fuck.

[NMMNG]

7. So did I

I'm not at all surprised somebody was boinking one of the apes though. :-(

[SPKrazy]

42. See Post #39

apparently a hoax

we are animals

but this isn't a human offspring

Thank goodness

:freak:

[ghostsofgiants]

2. Umm, you have a source for that?

That's pretty fucked up.

[Floogeldy]

3. Damn. She is HAWT!

I think I'm in love. :loveya:

[TK421]

4. How did you get this picture of my ex ?

:wtf:

[yurbud]

5. I was just there and that's what it said on the sign

[BreweryYardRat]

6. Got a CNN or AP link for that?

This is pretty damn huge if it's true. And I'm assuming the zoo keeper claimed as a parent is male?

[Nicole]

8. Didn't the Freeper cruise ship dock in Romania?

[yurbud]

21. yeah, and wherever they go, they have to re-enact that scene from DELIVERANCE with something

[Bullwinkle925]

9. Barbara or Jenna?

I can't tell.

:shrug:

[Drum]

10. LOL

:rofl:

[yurbud]

23. Barb senior on her wedding night with Poppy

[Downtown Hound]

11. The fingers and feet look remarkably human...

If this is a hoax, it's a damn good one. Looks like they found a new playmate for * after he gets impeached.

Actually, that was mean. I wouldn't wish that kind of suffering on this poor creature.

[leftofthedial]

12. man, them bush wimmens is looking more human every generation

[Skittles]

13. I don't believe it

if that could happen there would be thousands of them running around

[Heidi]

14. That's the very reason I sort of believe it.

Yes, INDEED. :P

[Skittles]

15. LOL

still, I think the bush/chimp comparison is very insulting to the chimps. :)

[ghostsofgiants]

17. Agreed.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060209090424/http://www.bushisnotachimp.org/

[Downtown Hound]

16. My physical anthropology teacher in college,

a well-respected woman in the field with decades of experience and several books published, was quite convinced that humans could mate successfully with chimpanzees. This story very well may turn out to be a hoax, and probably is given that is has not received more attention. But humans and chimps have 98.6% similar DNA. So why hasn't it happened? Apes and chimps are VERY strong creatures, and probably wouldn't take kindly to being sexually accosted by a human. But is it possible? No one really knows the answer for certain.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

25. Hey, you never know...

They could have been friends or something. It could happen. And the human could have drugged it. I think it sounds possible too. We're so similar.
Duckie

[Kingshakabobo]

48. Maybe the ape slipped the human a roofie......????

[Maddy McCall]

46. Humans and mice share 99% identical DNA.

I really doubt, though, that we'll ever see mice-human hybrids.

[AlienGirl]

47. Humans and mice are about 96 percent, IIRC

Transgenic human-mice have already been created. So have mice with human brain cells (scientists promised they'd destroy them if they started displaying human-like cognitive traits).

Tucker

[Maddy McCall]

49. 99% is what I read.

As of 2002, it was 99%.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/12/04/coolsc.coolsc.mousegenome/index.html

[Kire]

18. link?

[mainegreen]

19. Ha! Nice hoax. Shave an ape and golly, it looks like a person.

[yurbud]

20. you know how long it took me to shave that chimp? Not to mention the bikini waxing...

[originalpckelly]

38. Please post a link. (nt)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. Dude.

Post it in GD and see how many people fall for it.

:P

[Haole Girl]

24. That's not part ape!

That's part Yoda!

:rofl:

[Fuzz]

Drank that much, did I?

[Radio_Lady]

26. Human=pig=hairless rat hybrid reported on snopes.com...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/family.asp



See the picture and read the actual story in the link, above.

[Quantess]

29. Cool link!

Once you read that the human-pig and babies is a sculpture, that is.
That's an amazing artist.

[Radio_Lady]

32. There's an artist named John De Andrea -- who has created a whole

human male, detailed right down to his sexual organs, blotches on his back and hair in all the right places... at the Portland Art Museum. It's pretty eerie right there in the modern art wing.

He has also done human females. He uses a polychrome technique, and calls himself a "super realist". It's better than anything I ever saw at a wax museum.

Here's his website... see for yourself.

http://johndeandrea.tripod.com/aboutus.htm

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

27. Can we say

Photoshop? That's my take.........

[raccoon]

55. Can we say photoshop and National Enquirer? That's my take. nt

[Redstone]

28. Bullshit.

Redstone

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Redstone]

35. No, I haven't been there. And I don't think I want to go.

The whole concept makes my stomach feel kinda urpy.

Redstone

[Radio_Lady]

56. Good idea. It really turned my stomach for a couple of days.

[cwydro]

30. Oh yes

:rofl:

[ironflange]

33. Can't be done

Critters with different numbers of chromosomes can't hybridize. This is a hoax, just like the recent cat/dog story.

[Radio_Lady]

34. Is that all that is required? The same number of chromosomes?

So wolf/dog will work? And horse/donkey, too, but that's it?

[ironflange]

37. At the risk of getting into stuff I'm not too up on. . .

Having different numbers of chromosomes rules out any chance of interbreeding. Even having the same number guarantees nothing: the type and arrangement of genes on the chromosomes will differ between species that are not closely related. Dogs can interbreed with wolves (both have 78) but not with chickens (also 78). Humans have 46, gorillas 48, so the only truth coming from this story is that a zookeeper may be having a serious relationship with a chimp. Eeew. As far as hybridizing dogs with cats, forget it, the score there is 78 to 38.

If I'm completely out to lunch on this, anyone, please be gentle.

:dunce:

[AlienGirl]

44. IIRC, there is a coding difference that makes human/chimp hybrids impossible

I remember asking a geneticist about this, and he said that some of the genes that code for the timing of early-embryonic development were different enough between humans and chimps that they couldn't interbreed without genetic engineering.

Tucker

[Downtown Hound]

53. Not quite, there are a number of other crossbreeds that happen as well

See this for a list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid

Usually a hybrid is created from two different speices within the same genus. Human and apes have a different genus. Human belong to the genus homo, whie apes belong to the genus Pan. The thing is, Homo and Pan are very similar to each other, and there has even been discussion about whether to reclassify the Bonobo as a Homo rather than a Pan.

As for chromosomes, they don't have to be an exact match, but they have to be close and for every pair that doesn't line up it strongly decreases the likelihood that any offspring will be able to reproduce. Such is the case with the mule.

So as for a human and an ape...who really knows?

[philosophie_en_rose]

36. It looks like a shaved ape. . .

Shaving seems pretty unnecessary, but she clearly has stubble on her arms.

[originalpckelly]

39. Send my regards to the St. Louis Zoo and their hairless chimp:

http://atsmith.smugmug.com/gallery/1255781

[originalpckelly]

40. "This chimp was born at the St. Louis Zoo without hair and was accepted by the other chimps.

They all live together in harmony."

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1042507180030272744FKzyGJ

[originalpckelly]

41. Cinder the chimp with alopecia universalis:

"Who is Cinder?

Cinder was an unexpected baby. Her mother, Mollie, and father, Smoke, were brought to the Saint Louis Zoo to become foster parents to Hugo. The two were experienced parents, but their last baby was born nine years earlier and it was thought that child was to be their last. Thus, our surprise when Mollie gave birth to a healthy baby girl on August 9, 1994. Mollie comfortably slipped back into the role of mother and Smoke was a laid-back and gentle father.
Hair One Day ... Gone the Next

Newborn Cinder had a beautiful, full coat of hair. Nothing unusual, baby chimpanzees are born with hair, but what followed was unusual. When she was about five months old, we noticed that Cinder was losing some hair. She continued to lose her hair and in a definite pattern, first from her lower body and gradually extending up until after close to a year, Cinder was completely bald. We invited veterinary and medical doctors to consult with our veterinarians while we ran a variety of diagnostic tests. She was treated for a brief time with suggested medications, but in the end nothing helped. Cinder was diagnosed with alopecia areata, which “is a highly unpredictable, autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body. This common but very challenging and capricious disease affects approximately 1.7 percent of the population overall, including more than 4.7 million people in the United States alone” according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. When there is a total loss of hair, as in the case of Cinder, the condition is referred to as alopecia universalis. Cinder is otherwise a normal, healthy chimpanzee and, unlike humans, is not faced with the psychological and social challenges the disease presents.

Cinder has never been treated differently by her parents or foster siblings. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and hair is not essential quality in the eyes of our chimpanzees. Indeed, Cinder was doted on by both parents to the point that we viewed her as spoiled. Mollie attended to her every need and refused to go anywhere without Cinder. The two slept in the same nest for years, longer than most chimpanzee mothers and daughters. Smoke was a playful father, ready to tickle and gently wrestle with his daughter whenever she was in the mood.
The Life of a Princess

Cinder benefited greatly from the addition of our foster chimpanzees into her family. Younger than Hugo, Mlinzi and Jimiyu, and the biological daughter to Mollie and Smoke, Cinder was treated as the baby sister who could get away with anything. She had instant playmates as well as a mother who would insure that none of the older kids could hurt her. She was carried by Mlinzi and even on occasion by the young boys.

When Cinder was five years old we fostered two more baby chimpanzees into her family. The girls, Holly and Bakhari, were fun playmates when she first met them. For the first time, she was older than another chimp, a fact that initially was not problematic. She played with both girls but because Bakhari was less interested in rough play, Cinder spent more time roughhousing with Holly. Bakhari spent more time with Mollie. But over the course of a few weeks, Cinder became increasingly jealous of the attention Mollie gave to the younger girls. In our eyes, Mollie was still more attentive to Cinder than any of the other chimpanzees, but children do get jealous over small things and so it was with Cinder. We had to separate Cinder out and let her live with her dad and away from Mollie for a short time to allow the Holly and Bakhari some undisrupted time to bond with Mollie. Cinder loves her dad and, although she was unhappy at first, she adjusted rather quickly. When reunited, she behaved well and has enjoyed the company of her new sisters.

Cinder was a totally different girl when she was introduced to her most recent foster-sister, Tammy. Nine years old, Cinder was finally more independent of Mollie (although Mollie always fretted when she didn’t know the whereabouts of her daughter). Mlinzi took on the role of Tammy’s foster mother, but when we introduced Mollie and Cinder to Tammy, both fussed over the pretty baby girl. Tammy was immediately taken with Cinder and spent a lot of her time with her hairless sister. Even new chimpanzees didn’t care that Cinder had no hair. We were very proud of Cinder’s gentle interactions with Tammy. No longer the rambunctious five-year-old, Cinder’s behavior was more maternal and protective. She not only let Tammy hold onto to her waist while newly exploring the Jungle of the Ape’s exhibit, she often hurried over and presented her waist to Tammy when the younger chimp was exploring on her own.

In the summer of 2004, Mollie became very ill. We were heartbroken as, despite all our efforts, Mollie’s condition left her increasingly weak. In an all-out attempt to save her life, we separated Mollie from her family in order to be able to treat her multiple times throughout the day. We made sure she was near her family so she could see them and vice-versa. On that sad day when we knew Mollie was in discomfort and would not recover, we made the difficult decision to euthanize her. We allowed her family to see her body; Cinder touched her through the wire. Cinder needed time to adjust to her mother’s death. The removal of any chimp from a group causes some readjustment in their social life and Mollie was a vital part of Cinder’s world. When she is upset, Cinder seeks Smoke’s comfort more than she had in the past.
New Challenges

The opening of the Fragile Forest has brought another change in her life. Cinder has never seen the outdoor world. She was born in the Jungle of the Apes; she is seeing the outside for the first time in her life. And she is nervous. Smoke was the first of our family to go outside, but Cinder did not take his lead and follow. She was very agitated that her father was in an unknown environment and appeared anxious for him to return. When she built up the courage to venture into the yard for the first time, Smoke, the loyal father, stayed near her. She is gradually spending a bit more time outside, but inevitably she looks to see where Smoke; it is not unusual for Smoke to give her a reassuring hug. In some ways, her short visits into the sunlight will work to her advantage by avoiding sunburn. All of our chimpanzee will get tan from being outside. Hairless areas such as their faces will become chocolate-colored; Cinder just happens to have a larger area with no hair. Already we have noticed that her white skin is getting darker and happily we have not seen sun burnt areas - which suggests her gradual tanning plan is working!"

http://www.stlzoo.org/yourvisit/thingstoseeanddo/thewild/fragileforest/whoswhoinourchimpanzeefami/cinder.htm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

50. "Cinder has never been treated differently by her parents or foster siblings."

There is much we could stand to learn from them...

[yurbud]

54. when I found the photo, I thought someone had just digitally removed her hair

good find on the zoo.

I was trying to start an urban legend, like that "humanzee" on the discovery channel.

[originalpckelly]

60. Well, that doesn't work around here...

we're too into science.

;-)

[yurbud]

43. SCREENSHOT, original story, link--I hate being called a liar

Click pic to see original.

I don't know Romanian, but this is the same pic.



http://mysite.verizon.net/myk15/dnachimp.html">

[originalpckelly]

51. I'm not calling you a liar...

I followed the link the picture had embedded in it. I then found the caption about the St. Louis Zoo. I was then prompted to look up the chimp and found the more intensive descriptions.

If they are going to hoax people they ought to not link directly to the very page where the original image came from.

[yurbud]

52. what link is that?

[Radio_Lady]

57. Yurbud, don't take this personally. Sometimes I post things that I'm suspicious about...

and don't have time to research or run down...

Sorry you have to take any abuse or name calling about that photo. Glad we got to the bottom of it with some biological truths.

The DU can be a really rough place... but I thought the Lounge was a bit of a respite. Turns out that it just isn't. Some people just like to jeer at others anonymously.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[originalpckelly]

59. Here:

httpe://atsmith.smugmug.com/photos/2835556-S.jpg

Remove that "e" right after the "p" in "http" and you'll have the picture. On Windows, you can right click on the picture, and in most browsers, select "properties" from the menu. In most cases you'll find the URL of the picture, which I found in this case.

I just deleted the "/photos/2835556-S.jpg" part, and I found that this picture was from a website devoted to nature pictures. It took me a while to find this picture, but I did.

I then googled St. Louis Zoo, and shaved chimp and I got another website, which called the chimp hairless.

Then I went and searched for that, and I found the actual zoo webpage for the chimp.

Whoever in Romania hoaxed this, did a good job because there has been speculation as to whether humans and chimps could mate, in fact there is a long Wikpedia entry about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee

In fact when I saw the picture, I immediately looked up "human chimp hybrid," that's how I came upon the Wikipedia article about Humanzees.

Quite frankly, that made me think this was real, but being curious I did more research and found out that it was actually a hoax.

[AlienGirl]

45. self-delete

[KFC]

58. At least she didn't flash her wa-wa

Britney could learn a lesson from this half-beast.

[WindRavenX]

61. oh no you di'int!

:rofl: