It is believed that chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes, humans have 46 chromosomes, while the chimpanzee Oliver has 47 chromosomes.
The Dream of Humanity with a Touch of Science Fiction
Film lovers may still remember the American science fiction series Planet of the Apes, which consists of three thrilling installments: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). In these films, apes possess the ability to walk, speak, think, and fight just like humans.
What seems to be a mere creation of filmmakers has roots in history, as humans have long harbored the dream of creating apes with the strength of chimpanzees and the intelligence of humans.
In fact, research efforts in this area continue to this day.
In 2019, a team of scientists led by Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the U.S. created a hybrid organism between a human and a monkey, which survived for 19 days.
Humans still dream of creating a species of monkeys as strong as chimpanzees and as intelligent as humans. (Illustrative image)
Since the 1920s, Russian scientists under Soviet leader Stalin were tasked with creating super-soldier hybrids between humans and monkeys that could operate in extremely harsh and dangerous conditions beyond human capability.
Secret documents from that era (revealed in the 1990s) indicate that Kremlin leaders desired an unbeatable army of human-monkey hybrids with “unmatched strength and underdeveloped brains” and incredible “resilience, unaware of hunger or thirst.”
This project was led by Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, a biologist who dedicated his life to crossbreeding humans and monkeys through artificial insemination.
However, the project was unsuccessful, and Ivanov died in a labor camp during the early 1930s.
Stalin wanted to create an army of super-soldier human-monkey hybrids. (Image of Caesar – the character leading the primates in their war against humans in the third installment, War for the Planet of the Apes).
In the 1980s, news emerged about the hybridization of chimpanzees and humans in laboratories in China, which began in 1967. One of the scientists involved in the project was Ji Yongxiang. He stated to the newspaper Văn Hối that he intended to create an animal capable of speech like humans but possessing the incredible strength of a chimpanzee.
According to Ji, these human-chimp hybrids would be utilized for mining, heavy agricultural work, or exploring dangerous areas such as outer space or the deep sea.
However, no officially recorded successful hybridization cases have been documented since then.
The Emergence of a “Human-Chimp Hybrid”
In the 1970s, the appearance of a chimpanzee named Oliver, regarded as a “mutation” with very human-like characteristics, reignited humanity’s fascination with the concept of “human-chimp hybrids.”
Oliver, the chimpanzee once considered a mutation with human-like features.
Reportedly, Oliver was brought from Congo and cared for by American trainers Frank and Janet Berger.
He was described as having a somewhat different appearance from typical chimpanzees, exhibiting more human-like traits, such as a flatter face compared to his peers, walking on two legs, having a straighter back, less body hair than other chimpanzees, and being significantly more intelligent. He even showed more interest in women than female chimpanzees.
Moreover, Oliver was said to have 47 chromosomes, while chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes and humans have 46 chromosomes.
Oliver exhibits many distinctive features compared to chimpanzees and is believed to have 47 chromosomes.
These characteristics led Frank and Janet to believe that he was a hybrid between a human and a chimpanzee.
In a documentary aired on the Discovery Channel on December 16, 2006, Janet Berger claimed that when Oliver was 16 years old, he had attracted her.
Ultimately, Janet and her husband had to sell Oliver to a lawyer in New York named Michael Miller.
The Mystery Finally Unveiled
In 1977, Oliver’s owner, Michael Miller, sold him to Ralph Helfer for performances in a theme park. After several relocations, Oliver was finally taken to the Wildlife Training Center in Riverside, California, under owner Ken Decroo. By 1985, Ken sold Oliver to another individual.
Oliver’s last trainer was Bill Rivers. However, Bill noted that Oliver could not integrate with other chimpanzees.
In 1989, Oliver was purchased by Buckshire Corporation, a large laboratory in Pennsylvania specializing in renting animals for scientific and cosmetic testing.
DNA testing confirmed that Oliver was a normal chimpanzee.
It was from this point that a genetic expert took a DNA sample from Oliver and discovered that he had 48 chromosomes, just like a normal chimpanzee, belonging to a chimpanzee family in Congo, rather than the 47 chromosomes previously rumored.
Not subjected to experimentation but confined in a cramped cage, Oliver suffered from severe muscle atrophy, becoming emaciated to the point of trembling while walking. In 1996, Sharon Hursh, president of Buckshire Corporation, was sued by the animal protection organization Primarily Primates, leading to the eventual agreement to release Oliver.
By 1998, Oliver was taken to the Primarily Primates sanctuary, living in a spacious outdoor area in Bexar County, Texas. However, by then, he was old, suffering from arthritis and had diminished eyesight.
Oliver spent his final years with a female chimpanzee named Raisin and passed away on June 2, 2012, at the age of 55.
