Do human animal hybrids exist? Are they possible via gene splicing or other technologies? Can humans and animals produce offspring?

quora.com

Mar 24, 2018 8:27 AM

Kyle Darcy

College Level Biology and Tons of Research

64w ago

No… Other than if you consider Neanderthals, Denisovans or other similar ancestors to be animals. Different cultures around the world have varying amounts of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA lingering in their populations from many tens of thousands of years ago when it would appear, Homo Sapiens weren’t too picky and mated with other said species.

There are a couple monkeys, rats and bats that have the same number of chromosomes as we do, which could make for some interesting tinkering for some DNA mad scientist who doesn’t mind potentially going to jail but there is much more to being fully compatible than just having the same number of chromosomes. So for now, the answer is a pretty fair no, but we are only beginning to grasp the intricacies of DNA manipulation and are a long ways from seeing a human flying around with large wings (as cool as that would be).

Mark Werner

Interested in general science since childhood.

77w ago

Certainly not in the “usual” way. There are no species on Earth close enough to us to make interbreeding possible.

However, there is the possibility of “genetic engineering”, where specific genes are extracted from the DNA of another species and inserted into the genetic material of a new species (usually at the level of the egg cell).

The result can be an organism that has some characteristic of another species. For instance, they have been experimenting with inserting genes from certain spiders into the genes of sheep, and thus have sheep that produce spider-silk proteins in their milk.

That’s not quite the same thing as having different species produce a viable offspring, of course.

Pramit Lahiri

I love animals! They are better than humans!

47w ago

“Human animal hybrid.” Creating a new species altogether was still an idea. But a human-animal hybrid is impossible!

You may check out my answer in this link: If a human gamete inseminates an animal gamete, what will the offspring look like? I have tried to elaborate on the point as how this won't work.

If only you have read my answer to that question, I am sure all your questions will be answered regarding this one.

Hope it helped!

Rebecca Holtz

Longtime sugar glider owner

17w ago

“Do human animal hybrids exist? Are they possible via gene splicing or other technologies? Can humans and animals produce offspring?”

Regarding the first part of your question, yes, in a manner of speaking. Animal organs have been implanted into human for a number of years.

For the second part, fortunately, no, otherwise we would be seeing them by now. Some humans have disgusting sexual proclivities.

Katie Bjorkman

Always loved animals, worked with them, and learn whenever I can.

106w ago

Original Question: Are there any animals that are half human?

Living organisms have almost all the same DNA. The difference between our genome and a chimp's is less than 3% (so are they 97% human? or are we 97% chimp?). Slugs have 70% of our genetic material, and bananas have 50%.

Ergo, I conclude that ALL animals and a good portion of plants are half or more "human."

Vincent Maldia

Have a BS Biology degree. Reads a lot about biology

106w ago

Mice already share around 97.5% of DNA with humans, for other non primate mammals the value should be roughly the same. If you consider adding one human gene to a mammal a "hybrid" then yes, such hybrids have been around for some time.

Mice with 97.5% with one or more added human genes exist. Here's one with a human version speech gene and they got slightly boosted intelligence

Here's a pig with a human immune system gene which makes the pig organs more immuno-similar with human organs. This in the future could allow pig to human transplants.

Rand Knight

115w ago

Not yet.  Probably not even for 100 years unless someone makes a huge breakthrough.

What might be possible currently is to create a child that's more hairy, more canines and pointy ears, but that's not going to be a true hybrid, and you'd probably run through hundreds of fetuses to even get that far.

But yes, in the future, my hope is that we'll get people colored all the colors of the rainbow and patterns too!  Cat people, mer-people, dog-people, vampires, werewolves, cyborgs...anything that the imagination can come up with!  
Increased diversity is a good thing IMM.

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