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Ethical dilemma #1: Humanzee

Aimee B. Loved 2007/11/12 06:51:36
It's an abomination and should be destroyed.
It should be allowed to live out the remainder of its life in a zoo.
It should be allowed to live with the basic rights of a human.
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Scientists approximate the genetic difference between man and chimpanzee to be less than the difference between horse and ass. Cross-breeding between an ass and horse is common, producing mules, though their offspring is sterile. Therefore, it is theoretically possible for a human to breed with a chimpanzee, producing a humanzee. In fact, such human-chimpanzee hybrids have been reported, though never confirmed, throughout history. So here's the question:
If a humanzee were born today, how should that offspring be handled?
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Top Opinion

  • ThatGirl 2007/11/12 06:56:42
    Undecided
    ThatGirl
    +4
    It should have a decent, happy life but not be allowed to reproduce. I don't think cross breeding a human with a chimp is a very good idea... we already have enough people around here going ape-sh*t.

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  • Unmistakably Liz 2007/12/11 16:47:01
    It should be allowed to live with the basic rights of a human.
    Unmistakably Liz
    I don't know... If they are human like you can not put them in a zoo. but I am not sure if would have a half-man half chimp as my accountant. Wow this is hard.
  • Chula21 2007/11/26 16:52:58
    It should be allowed to live with the basic rights of a human.
    Chula21
    It is part human... that and i luv animal's.....
  • marquise 2007/11/15 00:11:38
    None of the above
    marquise
    Frankenstein, the return....we are not able to handle our own humanity, how could we possibly deal with the chimpanzee's?!?!?!
  • Snarkosaurus 2007/11/14 20:09:24
    Undecided
    Snarkosaurus
    Wow. This is the first poll I've really been torn over. I worked with Chimps for about a year, and they are SO amazing. One actually taught me sign language. But at the same time, I know how dangerous Chimps are (think 16 year old boy on steroids with three times the strength of a human).

    Wow.

    I honestly don't know how I feel about this. On one hand (being half human), I would want to study it, especially if it could actually speak like a human. Think of all the research that could be done! On the other, it's half animal, so I don't want to exploit it. Hmmm...

    Let me think about this and get back to you.
  • Jay 2007/11/13 00:12:56 (edited)
    It should be allowed to live with the basic rights of a human.
    Jay
    but considering it's lower mental capacity it would be hard to argue that it has all the rights and privileges of humans and very unlikely that they would be able to live peacefully with humans.

    Apparently these hybrids may already exist --> http://www.jrbooksonline.com/...
    and more pictures here --> http://www.unexplained-myster...


    btw - Ligers rule !

  • jimih67 2007/11/12 17:04:06
    Undecided
    jimih67
    I don't believe in abortion, but in that case, the pregnancy should be terminated. It would most likely be the female chimpanzee who is pregnant. If it was not known before birth, while I wouldn't be for destroying it, it should be considered an animal and monitored closely. And the guy who got the chimp pregnant should be locked up. If it was done in a lab, that lab should be shut down and its funding cut off, and charges should be brought against whoever did it. This is a line we don't want to cross, but I don't think it is possible.
  • Smokey 2007/11/12 17:03:52
    None of the above
    Smokey
    +1
    Very unethical. Very, very unethical. I think it's man's way to refute Christianity and make fun of our Supreme Maker. God gives us much knowledge to do things, but in that, comes with much responsibility. i.e. spliting of the atom bomb was done not to create the nuclear bombs we know have to blow each other up ten times over.
  • Tonya 2007/11/12 15:51:07
    None of the above
    Tonya
    They play with human dna enought.
    I think it is a very bad idea.
  • B4Real2Me 2007/11/12 14:25:18
    None of the above
    B4Real2Me
    The offspring between the human and chimpanzee ought to be allowed to live out it's life wherever they best fit in and however they're most comfortable. However, the human that had sex with the chimpanzee ought to be arrested and changed with animal abuse because that chimpanzee couldn't legally give consent to the act of sex and therefore was abused/raped. Not to mention... ahhh how NASTY!!! Having sex with an animal is nasty and than to get pregnant and have this animal's baby... oh my goodness that person seriously needs HELP!!!
  • Michael, Arrivederci e amore 2007/11/12 14:11:16
    It should be allowed to live with the basic rights of a human.
    Michael, Arrivederci e amore
    +3
    If that were possible and did happen it wouldn't be the fault of the "humanzee". However, I don't think that should be allowed. This is playing God.
  • Michael... Michael... 2007/11/12 14:11:46
    Michael, Arrivederci e amore
    +3
    Great question though :)
  • Aimee B. Loved 2007/11/12 07:53:33
    It should be allowed to live out the remainder of its life in a zoo.
    Aimee B. Loved
    +1
    *shudders*
  • Ihr Hase ~ Radix Libertas 2007/11/12 07:37:12
    None of the above
    Ihr Hase ~ Radix Libertas
    I do not see this as wise, there have been reports of the Chuppacabra and sasquatch and these do not exist either...

    Cryptobiologists be damned

    Feasibility
    Humans have one chromosome fewer than other apes, since the ape chromosomes 2p and 2q have fused into a large chromosome (which contains remnants of the centromere and telomeres of the ancestral 2p and 2q) in humans [2]. Having different numbers of chromosomes is not an absolute barrier to hybridization. Similar mismatches are relatively common in existing species, a phenomenon known as chromosomal polymorphism.

    The genetic structure of all the great apes, including humans, is similar. Chromosomes 6, 13, 19, 21, 22, and X are structurally the same in all great apes. 3, 11, 14, 15, 18, and 20 match between gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans. Chimps and humans match on 1, 2p, 2q, 5, 7 - 10, 12, 16, and Y as well. Some older references will include Y as a match between gorillas, chimps, and humans, but chimpanzees (including bonobos) and humans have recently been found to share a large transposition from chromosome 1 to Y that is not found in any other ape.[3]

    This level of chromosomal similarity is roughly equivalent to that found in equines. Interfertility of horses and donkeys is common, although sterility of the of...







    I do not see this as wise, there have been reports of the Chuppacabra and sasquatch and these do not exist either...

    Cryptobiologists be damned

    Feasibility
    Humans have one chromosome fewer than other apes, since the ape chromosomes 2p and 2q have fused into a large chromosome (which contains remnants of the centromere and telomeres of the ancestral 2p and 2q) in humans [2]. Having different numbers of chromosomes is not an absolute barrier to hybridization. Similar mismatches are relatively common in existing species, a phenomenon known as chromosomal polymorphism.

    The genetic structure of all the great apes, including humans, is similar. Chromosomes 6, 13, 19, 21, 22, and X are structurally the same in all great apes. 3, 11, 14, 15, 18, and 20 match between gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans. Chimps and humans match on 1, 2p, 2q, 5, 7 - 10, 12, 16, and Y as well. Some older references will include Y as a match between gorillas, chimps, and humans, but chimpanzees (including bonobos) and humans have recently been found to share a large transposition from chromosome 1 to Y that is not found in any other ape.[3]

    This level of chromosomal similarity is roughly equivalent to that found in equines. Interfertility of horses and donkeys is common, although sterility of the offspring (mules) is nearly universal. Similar complexities and prevalent sterility pertain to horse-zebra hybrids, or zorses, whose chromosomal disparity is very wide, with horses typically having 32 chromosomes and zebras possessing between 44 and 62 depending upon species. In a direct parallel to the chimp-human case, the Przewalski horse (Equus przewalskii) with 33 chromosome pairs, and the domestic horse (E. caballus) with 32 chromosome pairs, have been found to be interfertile, and produce semi-fertile offspring, where male hybrids can breed with female domestic horses.[4]).

    In the 1920s the Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov carried out a series of experiments to create a human/ape hybrid. At first working with human sperm and chimpanzee females, none of his attempts created a pregnancy. In 1929 he organized a set of experiments involving ape sperm and human volunteers, but was delayed by the death of his last orangutan. The next year he fell under political criticism from the Soviet government and was sentenced to exile in the Kazakh SSR during the Great Purge; he died two years later (see below).

    As far back as 1977, researcher J. Michael Bedford[5] discovered that human sperm could penetrate the protective outer membranes of a gibbon egg. Among the apes, the gibbon is the farthest from humans. Bedford's paper also stated that human spermatozoa would not even attach to the zona surface of sub-hominoid primate (baboon, rhesus monkey, squirrel monkey), concluding that although the specificity of human spermatozoa is not confined to man alone, it probably is restricted to the Hominoidea.

    In 2006, research suggested that after the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees diverged into two distinct lineages, inter-lineage sex was still sufficiently common that it produced fertile hybrids for around 1.2 million years after the initial split.[6]

    However, despite speculation, no case of a human-chimpanzee cross has ever been confirmed to exist in modern times.
    (more)
  • Aimee B... Ihr Has... 2007/11/12 07:43:16
    Aimee B. Loved
    +1
    That didn't answer the question, though. =(
  • Ihr Has... Aimee B... 2007/11/12 07:55:13
    Ihr Hase ~ Radix Libertas
    The answer is it is impossible....

    Don't lose any sleep over it....
  • Aimee B... Ihr Has... 2007/11/12 08:01:32
    Aimee B. Loved
    +1
    According to what you posted, it isn't impossible. According to Michael J. Bedford's research, the specificity of human spermatozoa is confined to Hominoidea. Hominoidea is the superfamily of primates that humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons belong to. From what I can see, it is possible, though the offspring would most likely be sterile.
    =/
  • Aimee B... Aimee B... 2007/11/12 08:02:00
    Aimee B. Loved
    +1
    Looks like another sleepless night for me...
    O_O
  • Ihr Has... Aimee B... 2007/11/12 08:06:54
    Ihr Hase ~ Radix Libertas
    Ivanovich had no successfull germanations.....

    Get some rest ....

    The difference with Zebra, Donkies and Horses is they are theoretically linear in evolution....

    Humans and Chimps are branches from a common ancestor....
  • Aimee B... Ihr Has... 2007/11/12 08:25:08
    Aimee B. Loved
    +1
    *sleeps with shotgun*
    Mules, Ligers (tiger mother and lion father) and wolphins (bottle-nosed dolphin mother and false killer whale father) exist, why not humanzees?
  • Ihr Has... Aimee B... 2007/11/12 08:35:24
    Ihr Hase ~ Radix Libertas
    Ligers (tiger mother and lion father) are the result of two different sub spiecies mating... far closer than humans and other apes.....
    Dont worry....
    Humanzees... none to worry....

    A wholphin or wolphin is a rare hybrid, born from a mating of bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (mother), and a false killer whale Pseudorca crassidens (actually another dolphin species, taxonomically speaking). Although they have been reported to exist in the wild, there are currently only two in captivity, both at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii.
  • Gramma Lil 2007/11/12 07:02:40
    Undecided
    Gramma Lil
    Wow I would love to see it if it did happen. That would be very interesting indeed.
  • Aimee B... Gramma Lil 2007/11/12 07:04:16
    Aimee B. Loved
    +2
    *sigh*
    These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night...
  • Gramma Lil Aimee B... 2007/11/12 07:05:59
    Gramma Lil
    Well it's interesting stuff!!
  • ThatGirl 2007/11/12 06:56:42
    Undecided
    ThatGirl
    +4
    It should have a decent, happy life but not be allowed to reproduce. I don't think cross breeding a human with a chimp is a very good idea... we already have enough people around here going ape-sh*t.
  • Aimee B... ThatGirl 2007/11/12 06:59:56
    Aimee B. Loved
    +1
    In all likelihood, a humanzee would be sterile anyway. So the breeding thing isn't that much of a concern.
    I don't think cross-breeding a human and chimpanzee is a very good idea, either. There's a good chance that it may one day be our Republican presidential candidate. ;-P
  • ThatGirl Aimee B... 2007/11/12 07:00:44 (edited)
  • Aimee B... ThatGirl 2007/11/12 07:02:57
    Aimee B. Loved
    +2
    Indeed.
    =P
  • Gramma Lil ThatGirl 2007/11/12 07:03:49
    Gramma Lil
    +1
    I really love this photo...LMAO!!
  • ThatGirl Gramma Lil 2007/11/12 07:06:37
    ThatGirl
    +2
    Glad 2 give u a laugh! :o)
  • JefTex ThatGirl 2007/11/12 07:19:14
    JefTex
    +2
    I'm a Republican and even had to laugh at this picture.....
    As in the words of Larry the Cable Guy...
    "That right there is funny, I don't care who you are"
  • ThatGirl JefTex 2007/11/12 07:23:59
    ThatGirl
    +2
    Thanks for taking it so light-heartedly. :o) I don't intend to offend people, but I find almost everything funny.

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