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Interspecies embryo transfer
This has been done in an effort to try to save other rare species from extinction. Would it work for chimps, orangs, and gorillas?
By extracting eggs and sperm from chimps we can create thousands of test-tube chimp embryos. These are then implanted into the human
female surrogates.
This way we can increase great ape numbers far faster than by using a conventional captive breeding program. we can also get sperm and eggs from wild apes.
see links for examples of other species this has been done with.
saving an endangered cat
http://lynx.uio.no/...nissues/cn11-19.htm
Article on the use of domestic cats as surrogates for the Indian desert cat [humanzee, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
article on voles and mice
http://www.blackwel....2003.00115.x/full/
The intro lists cases where rejection is not an issue: horse-donkey, sheep-goat, mouse-rat [humanzee, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
[link]
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Are all great apes endangered? If not, can we use a non-endangered great ape as the mother instead? It's not that I'm trying to put our species before others - ok, so maybe it is. |
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I wonder if baby chimps have smaller heads than human babies. It might make delivery less painful ;-) |
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I would think humans would be ideal because of the huge amount of research into human pregnancy would mean that we would know the characteristics of the surrogate species better than that of an ape |
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A friend of mine who is a biologist told be that because of the wealth of research into human reproduction that cloning humans would probably be easier than other mammals. Not that this idea involves cloning. |
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"Man, that baby has a face that only a mother could love ..." |
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there would be a lot less hairy apes about if men had the babies. |
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This has to be the entirely oddest save-the-animals idea I've ever seen. So croissant. (I did lately post a link to an article stating that the genetic difference between people and chimpanzees is less than the genetic difference between men and women, so I guess it's feasible.)
po: if men had the babies, they'd be the women. |
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Why do I have a terrible feeling this will be featured on the next iteration of "Fear Factor" type show? Would you give birth to an ape to help keep them from extinction? No? Would you for that, plus a million dollars? |
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//if men had the babies, they'd be the women// how do you work that one out? |
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// //if men had the babies, they'd be the women// how do you work that one out? // |
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Because women have the babies. |
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yes, but <tears hair> familiar quote - "there would be less babies if men had to have them..." |
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apart from the fact that I cannot see *anyone* carrying a baby for 9 months (or less in the case of primates) and giving birth to a child (weighing less in the case of primates), bonding with that infant just for it to be released into the wild or sent to a zoo. I cannot in all fairness criticise this idea. |
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Who said anything about releasing them? I had just assumed they'd be part of the family. |
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what? I spend enough on carpet cleaner, air freshener and disinfectant as it is. |
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But you'd have an extra million dollars, thanks to the reality television people. |
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ok, you've talked me into it, where do I sign. |
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Right then. Sign me up, too. |
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what have WE done? have you had your scan yet? taking your iron? mornin' sickness. gawd mine was ugly! |
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thought of any names yet Lint?. thinking of Brandon if its a boy, Bubba if it's a girl... |
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Whoa! That was fast! I'm still trying to figure out who the Alpha Male is. |
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Wow. This one hurts my brain. (+) |
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Aren't chimps and humans too far apart phylogenetically? Wouldn't the mother's body reject the chimp embryo or could you get round that with immunosuppressant drugs? |
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I dunno, but I, along with 7 members of my immediate and extended family saw one of those ape-babies with a human mother dining in a restaurant in Eureka, CA in 1968. Ugliest thing I've ever seen. |
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Can't help thinking the endangered species would benefit more from not having their natural habitats demolished/polluted or being hunted. |
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From the reality TV perspective, no doubt the first great ape with a surrogate mother would be famous even before its birth. The producers could then advertise the show with a picture of the mother's extended belly and a speech bubble coming out of it reading "I'm a celebrity (chimp) - get me out of here!". |
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And I thought this one would go down like a lead balloon! |
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Rejection issues might be eased somewhat if you have a chimeric placenta. While I was looking for links to this idea, I found a reference to a scientist who somehow managed to get an alien (not ET) embryo that had a host species placenta. I'll see if I can find it again. |
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I've added a link to an article which has a list of interspecies embryo transfers which dont have rejection problems. |
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I've a great book called Arc Baby which is set in the UK during a fertility crisis. As none of the British women are conceiving, it becomes de rigeur to have an ape as a pet and the really fanatical women shave them and take hormones so they can breastfeed. It's a great book but I can't remember who wrote it nor find a link to it. Great Apes by Will Self is another good one in which the roles of humans and apes are transposed. |
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[dob]//Can't help thinking the endangered species would benefit more from not having their natural habitats demolished/polluted or being hunted// |
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I will never be able to look at the moniker humanzee in quite the same way again. |
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