Just remember that the first impressions are always overblown.

The missing link can never be found. ASSUMING this Oliver is an evolutionary step between humans and chimps, now there are 2 missing links instead of one: that between oliver and chimps and that between oliver and humans 😉

when you think about it its kinda freaky! what if, the monkeys catch up to us on the evolutionary scale? and you know what would be worse? if in maybe a million years they even surpass us!!!!

You’re welcome.

Assuming that a naturat disaster did not wipe us all out in a milion years, i think it would be impossible for chimps to ever reach our evolutionary level, maybe because we wouldn’t let them 😉

you may have to excuse the spelling im dyslexic and i cant be bothered to spell check.

i found this forum whilest searching for pictures of oliver, since i was aschool i have been overwhelmed by the idea of the humanzee and weather or not it is possible here is my theory as to how it moy be possible.

humans have 46 chromeasomes in there cells cimpanzees have 48,
humans give 23 chromeasomes in there reproductive cels eg. sperm ova
chimpanzees give 24

we can all work our that 23 + 24 is 47 nothing special about that numbe (why should it work?) people with downs syndrome if im not misstaken have 47 chromosomes so on paper it shouls be possible by artificial incamination or by actual intercourse for the two cells, the chimpanzee and the human, to germinate into some kind of downs syndromed "monkey man". i am unsure how inteligent this "monkey man" would be as oliver didnt seem to be a hybred.

in conclusion "dont rape the ape"

Yours The Ape Master

-Before 1996(don’t know when) it was found that Oliver had 47 chromosomes.
-In 1996 it was "found" that Oliver had 48 chromosomes.
-Is this a contradiction?
– Could Oliver be a humanzee with down syndrome?
-Oliver preferred to socialize with humans rather than chimpanzees. He was attracted to human females not chimpanzee females.
– Oliver walked completely upright (unlike any other chimpanzee), and enjoyed human activities( watching tv)
– Not many people recognize the fact that Oliver was found to have 47 chromosomes before 1996.
– Scientists said that Oliver had a genetic mutation that allowed him to be more human (structurally and behaviorally) than chimpanzee.
– Could a mutation change that many of Oliver’s characteristics into becoming more human like?
-What are the chances that Oliver would become more human like, as humans are cousins to the chimpanzees and humans are evolutionarily more advanced.
– If Oliver was considered a humanzee think of the social and ethical issues (Oliver was treated horribly) that would arise.
– Would Oliver gain human rights?
– Scientists tried to prove that Oliver was a pure chimpanzee to prevents problems amongst the world from arising.
*If you have anymore thoughts on Oliver being a humanzee post your thought.

Given that humans and chimps already share about 98% of our DNA, it probably wouldn’t take much on a genetic level to cause a chimp to show characteristics that would be considered humanoid. That said, the so-called "humanoid" features of Oliver are not that uncommon at all among chimpanzees, which would seem to indicate that claims to his uniqueness are probably exagerrated.

The entire concept of a "missing link" is, in reference to Oliver, a gross and foolish misunderstanding of popular culture. Aside from Andrew’s very valid point on the matter, it is also rather obvious that any creature alive today has absolutely zero chance of being a missing link between chimpanzees and humans. In fact, it is flatly impossible for such a link to exist at all, either today or in the past, at least in an evolutionary sense. For example, is there a "missing link" between yourself and your cousin? The only link between the two of you might be that you share the same grandfather. It is the same with humans and chimps. There never will be a link between chimpanzees and humans because humans did not evolve from chimpanzees, or from any other primate alive today. We share a common ancestor with other apes, and we may discover may species linking us and other extant species to that now-extinct ancestor, but a "missing link" between chimpanzees and humans will never be discovered because it is impossible for any such link to exist.

As for the possibility of human-chimp hybrids, I wonder how this would work out on a genetic level. Examination of chromosome 2 in humans seems to indicate that this chromosome was formed from the fusion of what was once two separate chromosomes, leading most geneticists to believe that humans at one time did have 48 chromosomes like chimpanzees. When the gametes of two parents merge to form a zygote, the chromosomes of each pair up with each other to form the genome of the offspring. Chromosome 1 from the father will always pair up with chromosome 1 from the mother, and the same will happen with the second pair, and with the third, and so on. I wonder how the fact that the second chromosome in humans corresponds to two separate chromosomes in chimps would affect that pairing? Would the two chimpanzee chromosomes both pair with their single counterpart in the human genome, or would the third chimpanzee chromosome (which should correspond to half of the human second chromosome) pair with the third human chromosome, thus throwing the entire sequence out of order and possibly preventing an offspring from developing?

Such a hybrid might be possible, especially given that similar chromosomal differences between horses and donkeys does not prevent them from mating to produce mules. Some evidence also suggests that such hybrids have existed in the past between the evolutionary ancestors of humans and chimps. However, only a few experiments have ever attempted to produce a hybrid between modern humans and chimpanzees, and none of these have met with success. It might be that such a hybrid is impossible after all.