Oliver - an intermediate link or a mystery of nature? (7 photos + 1 video)

Not yet a man, but no longer a monkey. Researchers continue to argue about the species identity of this strange creature to this day.





In the jungles of the Congo, the baby, who was several months old, was caught along with other tribesmen in the 60s. But it soon became clear that Oliver, as the new owners called the chimpanzee, was very, very different from his brothers.



During his first appearance on a 1970s freak show, Oliver was called the missing link, a human-chimpanzee hybrid, an ape. This claim was even backed up by a bold medical claim that Oliver allegedly possessed 47 chromosomes - one more than a human and one less than a chimpanzee.





Bold medical claims aside, it was clear that Oliver's appearance and behavior were significantly different from other primates.

He was distinguished by non-standard humanoid facial features, light eye color, a specific bald spot and a gentle character. The mannerisms of the beast were uniquely human, and the fact that Oliver was bipedal, that he walked upright, unlike other apes, certainly supported all the claims. He wasn't taught to walk like that on purpose. It was simply his natural and favorite way of moving.



When the baby was first brought from the Congo by Frank and Janet Berger, famous trainers who often took part in the show, they quickly confirmed the uniqueness of the new pet. The Bergers claimed that the other chimpanzees wanted nothing to do with Oliver. That he was expelled from their society. Surprisingly, Oliver didn't mind as he preferred the company of people. He turned out to be very useful for them, as he spontaneously and not without pleasure began to do housework. The volunteer helper often fed the animals and even used tools, such as a wheelbarrow, when the load was too heavy to carry.



His intelligence and ability to learn were amazing. As Oliver grew older, he adopted human habits of drinking morning coffee and evening cocktails, often mixing the drinks himself. His behavior was not simply imitation: Oliver repeatedly demonstrated the ability to overcome obstacles and find solutions using his logic or previously learned behaviors and concepts.

The trainers stated that the pupil was sexually attracted to human women, and because of his strength he was considered dangerous to trainers and spectators. Allegedly, the Bergers even got rid of him, since the pet became seriously interested in Janet and even tried to care for his owner. Over the course of several years, he changed a number of owners, but none could cope with the unusual habits and character of the pet.



As a result, in 1986, Oliver was sold to a laboratory. Surprisingly, thanks to his unique characteristics, Oliver was spared the typically painful and often deadly laboratory experiments. He simply wasn't considered a viable specimen because there were too many variables in his genetics compared to the other chimpanzees in the lab. Any experiment would be considered unreliable a priori. Oliver just spent seven years in a tiny cage.

In 1996 he was released. And the primate lived out the rest of his days in the wild - in an animal shelter with quite comfortable conditions. While there, official tests conducted by the University of Chicago showed that Oliver had the same number of chromosomes as all other chimpanzees. However, during testing, it was noticed that something in his genetic code was indeed different.



Is a human-monkey hybrid possible? Many people think so. In 1929, Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov allegedly came very close to creating such a creature.

In 1977, researcher J. Michael Bedford discovered that human sperm could penetrate the protective outer membranes of the egg of the gibbon, which is genetically the most distant ape from humans.

Was Oliver a hybrid? More likely,No. But he was clearly an unusual mutant, the analogues of which had not yet been discovered.