[extropy-chat] Human Evolution

[bradbury]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2003 at 10:49am aperick at centurytel.net wrote:
> is there any known reason why Bonobo-sapiens hybrids are impossible.

Well I suspected it was impossible but about
5 minutes with Google (query: Bonobo chromosome number)
turned up [1].  It would appear that human chromosome 2
resulted from the fusion of other primate chromosomes 12+13.
(Chromosomes are I believe numbered by size, 1 being the
largest, 2 being the next largest, etc. so combining
two smaller ones gets you an earlier number in the list).

So in answer to the question as to whether Bonobo-sapiens
hybrids -- it is either very very difficult or impossible
due to the differences in chromosome number.  It might be
feasible with a significant amount of genetic engineering
but we are at least a decade away from that being something
one might consider (from technology and cost standpoints).

Robert

1. http://home.planet.nl/~gkorthof/kortho42.htm
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