On 19 Aug 1995, JackF90000 wrote:
>> There is no such thing as a man-ape hybrid. A hybrid is a cross between
> two different individuals within a species (eg white & red flowering pea
> plants). By definition, two species are not capable of interbreeding,
> therefore there is no man-ape hybrid. If there were man-ape hybrids, man
That's not true. Examples of interspecies hybridisation are legion. For
example, see the latest Scientific American where it's pretty clear that
the Red Wolf is actually a Grey Wolf-Coyote hybrid. There are many other
examples - eg Polar bears and Grizzlies, Red Deer and Wapiti. The
problem is that our definition of a species is too sloppy. Species remain
as coherent mutually reproducing groups of organisms through a
combination of geographic and behavioural isolating mechanisms. There
may well be historical examples of human-ape hybrids (we differ from
Chimpanzees by only a fraction of our genome) but such hybrids would
almost certainly be sterile through chromosomal imbalance.
Dr Jim Cummins +61-9-360 2668
School of Veterinary Studies FAX =61-9-310 4144
Murdoch University cummins at possum.murdoch.edu.au
Murdoch, Western Australia 6150
Windows 95? More like Mac OS '84
