Humanzee - The Russian Human/Chimpanzee Hybrid
Humans have been creating crossbreeds of closely related animal species for thousands of years. Horses and donkeys are interbred to create mules. Most animal hybrids are accidental results of captivity, like Ligers, Wholphins, and Beefalo. Others are caused by habitat destruction and territorial shifts due to human activity. Grolar bears and Coywolves.
Natural evolution often leads to hybrid animals. These hybrids are mostly infertile, although some have the genetic stability to develop into entirely new species. Some researchers theorize that our own species interbred with Neanderthals in the murky past.
The idea of human-animal hybrids used to be exclusive to folklore. Enter Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, a Charles Darwin lookalike with the imagination to ask the question:
What if we put chimpanzee sperm in a human woman?
Super Soldiers - Stronger, Faster, Chimpier
Ilya Ivanov was a Soviet Biologist. He pioneered the field of artificial insemination. The progress he made with animals led to quite a bit of renown. His procedure made it possible to artificially inseminate all kinds of livestock, and he immediately started creating hybrids.
Before the Soviet Union existed, Ilya proposed his dream of creating a human-ape hybrid to the World Congress of Zoologists in 1910. It took him 10 years of research and preparation to feel ready to attempt it.
Ivanov approached Soviet leadership in 1924 with an indecent proposal. He wanted to take his artificial insemination technique to its natural next step. What he needed was funding and support for a trip to Africa to acquire some apes.
With the backing of Josef Stalin himself, Ilya Ivanovich acquired some chimpanzees. Stalin wanted super soldiers capable of fighting harder for longer. They had to be able to eat lower quality food than a human soldier, be stronger, and most importantly, not be smart enough to question orders.
Lest we lay all blame at the Soviet Union's feet, the Pasteur Institute of Paris set Ilya Ivanov up at an ape-research facility in Guinea. The West-African nation was at that time still a French colony.
The Experiments - Dawn of the Planet of the Failures
Ivanov bought a bunch of female chimpanzees. Unfortunately for him, the chimps were too young for the types of things he wanted to do to them. Their age wasn't a moral problem for Dr. Ivanov, they just weren't mature enough to carry a pregnancy reliably.
So the doctor did what anyone would do in his position, he set to burning the forest. You see, he couldn't wait for his chimps to mature. He needed results, yesterday. So he devised a technique for the capture of adult female chimps. His technique involved burning the tree in which the chimpanzees hid from him. As they descend from the blazing tree, his assistants chased them into cages.
Eventually, he managed to capture and inseminate 3 female chimps. The pregnancies didn't take.
Rumors started circulating around the doctor's activities. He allegedly kidnapped local women in an attempt to forcibly inseminate them with ape sperm. According to Ivanov, no pregnancy resulted from his crimes.
Before his time in Guinea came to a close, he was set to try to impregnate gorillas with human sperm as well. The attempt would never be made, as Stalin recalled his errant scientist to the Soviet Union.
Experiments Continue - Horror in Abkhazia
Dr. Ilya Ivanov returned to the Soviet Union with his determination to create a human/ape hybrid intact. He set up his own research facility in Abkhazia, a region south of the Caucasus Mountains. At the time, Abkhazia was a part of the Soviet Union.
Abkhazia is nearly subtropical in climate, and Ivanov thought it would be a good fit for his 20 chimps. There he continued his experiment to create the "missing-link" hybrid that would prove Darwin's theory of evolution.
His attempt would ultimately fail, and he turned to the Soviet Union for help. They sent out a call for any patriotic woman willing to help in the experiments. Surprisingly, they got some volunteers.
The ultimate success of Ivanov's experiments remain in doubt. His crimes are obvious, and officially no hybrid was ever created. There are rumors of ape-men wandering around the Caucasus Mountains, though.
Death of the Doctor
Stalin wasn't perfect. Some would say he was quite mad. His paranoia drove him to commit several purges during the 30s. People suspected of opposing his rule were subjected to trial and summary execution.
During The Great Purge, which lasted from 1936 to 1938, over a million people were detained and half as many executed. Among those targeted were military officers, wealthy peasants, artists, and scientists.
Leading up to the Great Purge era, several scientists were sent to labor camps, where they were worked to death in the bleakness of Siberia.
Dr. Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was arrested by Stalinist forces in 1930. He was sent to a work camp in Siberia, where the scientist toiled for 2 years before his death in 1932. Strangely, despite his many crimes, Dr. Ivanov was arrested for potential political subversion.
The Nightmare that Won't Die
Humanzee experiments didn't die with Dr. Ivanov. Rumors of continued experimentation in the USA and China are still circulating. High-ranking scientists have come out as whistleblowers to these experiments.
The term Humanzee has grown popular in recent years. Other terms commonly used are: Chuman, Chumpanzee, Manpanzee, Oranguman, Manrilla, Etc.
Somewhere in a deep dark lab there may be a living Humanzee, waiting for its creators to slip up and for it to make good its escape.
Comments