Mowgli (!RAR!)

[Surlethe]

Is it possible for a chimpanzee to give birth to a human baby? If it is, would the baby survive infanthood? If the baby did, could the child be brought back into human society and taught human language, and provide a definite way to communicate with chimpanzees -- a window into chimp culture?

Also important, would experimentation in such an area be ethical?

[Kuroneko]

If you are talking about something like in-vitro fertilization and then plantion into the chimpanzee, I don't know--but if I wouldn't be too suprised if this was possible. As for ethicality, it would be be unethical to abandon a child to be a Tarzan, but there does not seem to be anything unethical about developing a human embryo in anything other than a human womb, unless such a process would damage it. Additionally, I have dim recollections of Soviets attempting some sort of human/monkey hybrid and failing, but I'll have to check whether or not this was actually true. It could have been a Soviet urban legend, but then Soviet biological science was so messed up, that wouldn't be too far out of character either.

[Zero]

I must wonder about the motives of such an experiment. Do you honestly believe that there's anything interesting or insightful about chimp culture that we need to learn? Do you even really believe that the child would necessarily survive, assuming birth is actually possible? I mean, chimp life isn't probably quite the same as life among humans. I doubt that a human child would have the physical strength necessary. He would also likely feel extremely allienated. I would suggest that it would be more sensible to try and teach a chimp sign language to learn more about chimp culture, although I still doubt that there would be any gain from such a thing.

[Broomstick]

Is it possible for a chimpanzee to give birth to a human baby?

Not without considerable medical intervention.

First obstacle of concern is the immune reaction between species. Granted that mother and fetus are somewhat insulated - if they weren't, the mother's immune system would destroy the fetus. And, in fact, this sometimes happens. The problem is that the rejection between species happens even more swiftly than the rejection between individuals within a species. It will be a constant risk throughout the pregnancy although experiments involving closely related species - such as incubating an exotic or rare ungulate in a common cow - indicate that this is at least possible.

The second obstacle is more certain. There is no way in hell the skull of a human baby is going to fit through the pelvis of any other primate. It barely fits through a human pelvis. This baby will have to be delivered by Cesearian section or both mother and child will die.

If it is, would the baby survive infanthood?

If the mother accepts the baby as hers, it might but it's highly unlikely. Chimps are more gentle with their infants than with other creatures, but many human features - such as their total helplessness, inability to lift their head, and so forth - may be perceived as illness or deformity by the mother, leading her to abandon the baby. Even if she had had prior infants, she will not really be capable of caring for a human infant. Chimp babies are born at a developmental level roughly equivalent to a human infant 12-18 months old - in chimp terms, the mother would be confronted with an extremely premature infant.

If mother and child are kept isolated from other chimps the chances of survival would marginally increase (the other chimps would be a hazard to the baby) but then that would defeat the purpose of the experiment, for the baby to learn "chimp culture"

If the baby did, could the child be brought back into human society and taught human language, and provide a definite way to communicate with chimpanzees -- a window into chimp culture?

When are you planning to bring Tarzan out of the jungle? At two? He wouldn't have absorbed "chimp culture" by then. 6? 8? If you don't pull him out by 10 or 12 he will never learn human language - there's a limited language acquisition window in humans. Once it passes only the most limited communication is possible.

A human is not as strong as a chimp - the chances of injury or death are high. For that matter, chimps injure, maim, and kill each other both intentionially and unintentionally.

Also important, would experimentation in such an area be ethical?

Given the high risk to the infant/child's life - no. Nor would it be ethical to risk depriving a human being of language acquisition.

[Dalton]

Would the baby even fit?

[Surlethe]

So to get one Tarzan, one'd need probably several hundred attempts.

As to bringing the baby back into human culture, I was thinking about age 9 -- before he is too old to absorb human language, but after he has had a chance to survive with chimpanzees.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Even if the baby fit,it would probably still kill Chimp Mom.Pregnancy is a major drain on a mother,and a human baby is going to be a bigger drain than a chimp(human babies ARE bigger than chimp babies,right ?).

As far as ethics go,no it's not ethical.It's high risk/no reward and done without consent.Implanting human babies in larger,common animals like cows makes more sense - if it can be done at all.A cow would barely notice a human baby,and it would free human mothers of the burden of pregnancy.(The idea isn't original with me - I got it from one of the Heechee books)

[CaptainChewbacca]

A biology/paleontology professor I had told me there were rumors of similar experiments sponsered by some government program when he was in school in the 50's with such implantation, and that the fetuses were aborted, though one may have come to term.

To this day I don't know if he was joking or not.