Can apes mate with human females?

Answer 1

Physically, yes they could mate. They cannot produce offspring though because; one, they possess different numbers of chromosomes; two, a certain enzyme that is emitted from the head of a sperm cell that is used to puncture the female egg is different between ape and man. Therefore, it is impossible for fertilization to occur in the first place.

Answer 2

Yes, a chimp could mate with a human, but there is no guarantee that the resulting offspring would come to term. Instead of delving into the Biology (which is better suited for a differently phrased question: Are_Humanzee_chimp-human_hybrids_Possible), I will discuss the psychology of the matter. The Discovery Channel mentions that one of the three obstacles to producing a hybrid would be humans and chimps recognizing each other as potential mates. They don't think this could ever happen. If you look at the situation from the perspective of wild chimps, I don't think this would happen either (although there are some rumors of wild males raping human women). However, chimps raised from childhood in captivity, especially those raised in the same manner as human children, have been shown in the past to be attracted to humans. How could this be you may ask? Well, chimps who wear clothing, eat at the dinner table, sleep in a bed, play with toys, and interact with humans on a daily basis form human identities. They are usually raised separate from other chimps, and when they finally meet years later, they often don't recognize themselves as members of the same species. A memorable example of this is the sign language-capable chimpanzee Washoe. She was introduced to a chimp colony after years of being raised as a human. When asked "WHAT THAT?" (referring to the other chimps) in sign language, she replied "BLACK BUGS." Anyway, Washoe eventually became the patriarch of a small group of human-raised chimps at the University of Washington in Seattle. Several of the females there became enamored with the young human males, including the son of the lead researcher. It became such a problem that the son stopped coming to the lab. The best example of a chimp being attracted to humans is Lucy. Her human mother, a noted psychologist, commented in her biography that, when she was in estrus, Lucy would lower herself onto the pictures of nude male penises in the erotic magazine Play Girl.

For more info on the chimps mentioned above, see the book Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees (1997) by Roger Fouts. See the link below for the Discovery Channel video.

Answer 3

um... yes they are also apes