>> male narrator: SOMETIMES TRUTH MAY BE STRANGER THAN FICTION. AN EXPLOSIVE ALLEGATION: DID SOVIET SCIENTISTS TRY TO CROSS APES AND HUMANS TO CREATE AN ARMY OF APE-MEN? >> STALIN WAS WILLING TO DO THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE WOULD CRINGE FROM DOING. >> narrator: WAS SUCH AN ABOMINATION EVEN POSSIBLE? >> THERE'S NOTHING YOU COULD DO WITH AN APE-HUMAN HYBRID. THEY'D RIP YOUR ARM OFF. >> narrator: IN REGION WHERE REAL APE-MEN MAY HAVE EXISTED... >> SO IT'S POSSIBLE THAT A ANCIENT HUMAN SPECIES DIDN'T REALLY GO EXTINCT. >> SHE WAS JUST A BIG, WILD WOMAN. >> narrator: A STRANGE FIND COULD TURN SCIENCE ON ITS HEAD. >> THIS IS THE DNA RESULTS FROM THE KHWIT TOOTH. >> narrator: IT'S A BIZARRE JOURNEY WHERE ETHICAL LINES ARE BLURRED. >> I HAVE BEEN CALLED FRANKENSTEIN, DR. FRANKENSTEIN. >> narrator: WITNESSES AROUND THE WORLD REPORT SEEING MONSTERS. ARE THEY REAL OR IMAGINARY? SCIENCE SEARCHES FOR ANSWERS ON<i> MONSTER QUEST.</i> THIS ATHLETE TRAVELS THE WORLD PERFORMING EXTREME ACTS OF GYMNASTICS. BUT HE IS FAMOUS FOR SOMETHING ELSE. >> [speaking Spanish] >> I AM DANNY RAMOS GOMEZ. I WORK IN A CIRCUS BECAUSE I'M AN ACROBAT. >> narrator: FOR HIS ENTIRE 23 YEARS, DANNY HAS BEEN AN OBJECT OF FEAR AND SCRUTINY TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE THE CIRCUS. >> SO HERE I AM. ALL MY LIFE, I HAVE BEEN HERE. >> narrator: DANNY EXHIBITS A RARE CONDITION KNOWN AS HYPERTRICHOSIS, OR EXCESSIVE BODY HAIR. IT DOESN'T MAKE HIM ANY STRONGER, BUT SOMETHING DOES. >> THE TRUTH IS THAT I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY THINK I'M SO STRONG. SOME SAY THAT I'M STRONGER THAN OTHER PEOPLE. THERE IS A REALLY HEAVY TRAMPOLINE THAT THEY NEED FOUR PEOPLE TO CARRY, BUT I CAN CARRY IT, NOT WITH ONE ARM, BUT ON MY SHOULDER. THEY THINK THAT I'M STRONG, AND THEY ARE SCARED. >> narrator: THOUGH DANNY'S STRENGTH COMES FROM PRACTICING ACROBATICS, SOME WHISPER THAT HE'S SOME KIND OF APE-MAN HYBRID. HE IS NOT. BUT THEY ARE NOT THE FIRST TO BELIEVE THAT THE LINK BETWEEN HUMAN AND APE IS CLOSE ENOUGH FOR THE SPECIES TO CROSS. IN DECEMBER OF 2005, A FAIRLY INNOCUOUS OPEN EDITORIAL ARTICLE APPEARED IN<i> THE NEW YORK TIMES</i> BY ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGIST CLIVE WYNNE COMMENTING ON APE-HUMAN CROSSBREEDING EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED IN RUSSIA IN THE 1920s. >> I WOULD SAY THAT ONE CAN SPEAK OF THE 1920s AS THE GOLDEN AGE OF SOVIET SCIENCE. ANYTHING WAS POSSIBLE. >> narrator: THE STORY WAS QUICKLY PICKED UP BY RUSSIAN AND EUROPEAN PAPERS, INTRODUCING EVEN MORE EXPLOSIVE INFORMATION. AN ARTICLE IN<i> THE SCOTSMAN</i> NEWSPAPER STATED THAT IN 1926, THE POLITBURO IN MOSCOW PASSED THE REQUEST TO THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE WITH THE ORDER TO BUILD A LIVING WAR MACHINE, A NEW INVINCIBLE HUMAN BEING INSENSITIVE TO PAIN, RESISTANT AND INDIFFERENT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF FOOD THEY EAT. <i>MONSTER QUEST</i> WENT TO RUSSIA TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH OF THE REPORT WAS TRUE. THE RESULTS WERE SURPRISING. >> IT WAS A VERY INTERESTING STORY INDEED. >> narrator: KIRILL ROSSIIANOV IS A SCIENCE HISTORIAN WITH THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN MOSCOW. IN 2002, HE SAYS THAT HE UNCOVERED DOCUMENTS REVEALING THAT IN 1925, STALIN APPROVED A $10,000 GRANT TO A RUSSIAN SCIENTIST, EQUIVALENT TO APPROXIMATELY $120,000 TODAY. >> THE RUSSIAN SCIENTIST NAMED ILYA IVANOVICH IVANOV UNDERTOOK VERY STRANGE EXPERIMENTS. ACTUALLY, HE WENT TO AFRICA IN ORDER TO CARRY OUT THE ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF CHIMPANZEE FEMALES WITH HUMAN SPERM. >> narrator: ROSSIIANOV WANTED TO KNOW HOW FAR THIS EXPERIMENT WENT AND WHETHER STALIN OR ANYONE ELSE IN THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT KNEW WHAT THEY WERE FUNDING. IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THEY DID NOT, AS SIMILAR GRANTS TO OTHER SCIENTISTS WERE COMMON AT THE TIME. ALTHOUGH DNA RESEARCH WAS IN ITS INFANCY AT THE TIME, ILYA IVANOV RECOGNIZED THE BIOLOGICAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HUMANS AND CHIMPS. >> THE BLOOD PROTEINS WERE VERY SIMILAR. IF THE BLOOD CELLS ARE SO SIMILAR, SPERM CELLS AND EGGS SHOULD BE VERY SIMILAR TOO. AND THAT'S WHY HE AND OTHER SCIENTISTS AS WELL THOUGHT THE EXPERIMENTS COULD SUCCEED. >> narrator: AFTER THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION IN 1917, THE BOLSHEVIKS BEGAN TO REINNT RUSSIA AS THE POWERFUL INDUSTRIALIZED SOVIET UNION. IT WAS A TIME OF UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE. >> THE BOLSHEVIKS THOUGHT OF SCIENCE AS A POWERFUL TOOL TO MODERNIZE RUSSIA AND ALSO TO ENLIGHTEN THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. THIS WAS A WINDOW OF HISTORICAL POSSIBILITY. >> narrator: ACCORDING TO ROSSIIANOV, THE DOCUMENTS REVEAL IT WAS THE FRENCH WHO OPENED THE DOOR FOR IVANOV. THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE GAVE HIM ACCESS TO THEIR PRIMATE FACILITY IN CONAKRY, GUINEA, AFRICA. AND IN 1926, IVANOV'S EXPERIMENTS BEGAN. HE ARTIFICIALLY INSEMINATED THREE CHIMPANZEES OVER THE COURSE OF A YEAR. THE EFFORTS PROVED TO BE FUTILE. >> ON THE ONE HAND, HE DIDN'T GET THE HYBRIDS, THE VIABLE HYBRIDS. ON THE OTHER HAND, HE COULDN'T EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCCESS, BECAUSE THREE INSEMINATIONS, IT WAS TOO LITTLE. CHANCES FOR SUCCESS WERE RATHER LOW. >> narrator: AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS AND NO PREGNANCIES, IVANOV'S STRATEGY TOOK A DRASTIC TURN. HE WANTED TO INSEMINATE SOVIET WOMEN WITH APE SPERM. LONG BEFORE IVANOV'S EFFORTS, THERE WERE APE-MAN STORIES IN RUSSIA, MOST OFTEN CALLED THE <i>ALMASTY, ABANU,</i> OR<i> ALMAS.</i> THEY WERE DESCRIBED AS SIX TO SEVEN FEET TALL, WALKED ON TWO FEET, WERE COVERED IN REDDISH HAIR, AND WORE NO CLOTHING, A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION NOT UNLIKE THE AMERICAN BIGFOOT OR ASIAN YETI. BUT STORIES OF THE ALMASTY INCLUDE SEVERAL IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES. IT IS SAID TO HAVE A MORE HUMAN-LOOKING FACE AND ALLEGEDLY USED FIRE AND TOOLS. >> narrator: IGOR BOURTSEV IS A RUSSIAN HISTORIAN AND AN EXPERT ON THE MYSTERIOUS HAIR-COVERED WOMAN NAMED ZANA. >> narrator: LOCAL HUNTERS WENT LOOKING FOR THE STRANGE SOUL WHO HAUNTED THEIR REGION. THIS RE-CREATION IS TRUE TO ABANU DESCRIPTIONS, THOUGH, AS WE WILL SEE, ZANA MAY HAVE LOOKED MUCH MORE HUMAN. SOON THE HUNTERS FOUND WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR. SHE WAS EVENTUALLY SOLD TO A LOCAL MAN OF MEANS NAMED GENABA. >> narrator: AFTER BEING CAGED FOR SEVERAL YEARS, ZANA GREW DOCILE AND SUBMITTED TO A NEAR-DOMESTICATED LIFE. ALTHOUGH SHE NEVER SPOKE MORE THAN A COUPLE OF WORDS, SHE ROAMED ABOUT THE VILLAGE FREELY AND EVEN WORKED AT GENABA'S MILL. >> narrator: AND HERE IS WHERE THE STORY TAKES ANOTHER UNLIKELY TURN. LEGEND HAS IT THAT ZANA HAD SEVERAL OFFSPRING WITH NUMEROUS DIFFERENT MEN FROM THE VILLAGE. ZANA'S FIRST CHILD DIED WHEN SHE BATHED IT IN THE COLD RIVER. AFTER THAT, THE LOCAL VILLAGE WOMEN RAISED HER REMAINING FOUR CHILDREN WHO WERE SEEMINGLY HUMAN AND OF NORMAL INTELLIGENCE. ONE SON NAMED KHWIT WAS SAID TO BE VERY STRONG, ILL-TEMPERED, AND QUICK TO FIGHT. KHWIT, ALONG WITH ZANA, WAS SAID TO BE BURIED IN GENABA'S FAMILY PLOT IN ABKHAZIA. WHILE ZANA'S BODY WAS NOT FOUND, IGOR SAYS HE DID LOCATE KHWIT'S REMAINS. IGOR HAS PROVIDED<i> MONSTER QUEST</i> WITH WHAT HE CLAIMS IS KHWIT'S TOOTH. IN 2006, DNA TESTS ON THE TOOTH CONCLUDED KHWIT'S MOTHER, ZANA, WAS HUMAN, INDICATING THE STORIES OF HER HEIGHT AND HAIRY APPEARANCE WERE LIKELY MUCH EXAGGERATED. HOWEVER, THIS EXPERT SUGGESTS THE RESULTS MAY HAVE BEEN TAINTED. >> IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THE DNA THAT WAS RECOVERED BEFORE WAS HUMAN CONTAMINATION. >> narrator: CURT NELSON IS A MICROBIOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. HE PLANS TO RUN NEW DNA TESTS ON THE TOOTH. >> I'M GOING TO GO INTO THE TOOTH AND TRY TO RECOVER DNA TO ANALYZE IT TO SEE WHAT THE NATURE OF THE DNA IS TO SEE WHETHER OR NOT KHWIT WAS FULLY HUMAN. >> narrator: NELSON BELIEVES IT IS POSSIBLE THE ORIGINAL RESULTS WERE CONTAMINATED WITH HUMAN DNA DUE TO IMPROPER SAMPLE COLLECTION AND PREPARATION. >> WHEN YOU TOUCH SOMETHING, YOU JUST AUTOMATICALLY CONTAMINATE IT WITH DNA. AND IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO GET RID OF THIS--THE DNA PERSISTS VERY STRONGLY. SO I'M JUST GOING TO DECONTAMINATE THE SURFACE OF THIS TOOTH BY BRUSHING IT FIRST. ABOUT TEN MINUTES OF THIS SCRUBBING. NOW I'M JUST GONNA RINSE OFF THE TOOTH WITH SOME DISTILLED WATER. AND THEN I'M GONNA PLACE IT INTO A BLEACH SOLUTION FOR AN OVERNIGHT INCUBATION TO FURTHER DESTROY SURFACE DNA. SO IF ZANA WAS AN ALMASTY, WE POSSIBLY COULD SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE ALMASTY. >> narrator: JOSEPH STALIN'S PLAN FOR AN ARMY OF INDOMITABLE APE-MAN WARRIORS WOULD HAVE BEEN A TERRIFYING PROSPECT. JUST TEN YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR I, RUSSIA'S ARMY WAS DEPLETED, AND STALIN WAS DESPERATE FOR MORE SOLDIERS AND POWER. >> STALIN KNEW NO LIMITS. STALIN WAS WILLING TO DO THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE WOULD CRINGE FROM DOING, WOULD NEVER CONSIDER DOING. WELL, STALIN WAS A PART OF A CULTURE OF SECRECY. HE BRED SECRETS. HE LIVED IN TERMS OF SECRETS AND TRADED IN TERMS OF SECRETS. VERY DEFINITELY, STALIN HID THINGS. >> WE BELIEVE THAT THE REAL STORY OF SOVIET HISTORY HAD BEEN HIDDEN OR LIED ABOUT. REALLY NEEDED TO GO TO THE ARCHIVES THAT STARTED TO OPEN UP AFTER THE BEGINNING OF GORBACHEV'S REFORMS. >> narrator: IN 2002, ROSSIIANOV COMBED THE CENTRAL STATE ARCHIVES OF THE MOSCOW REGION FOR DETAILS OF ILYA IVANOV'S EXPERIMENTS. THE DOCUMENTS REVEAL THAT WHEN IVANOV'S WORK IN GUINEA FAILED, HE MOVED TO THE TOWN OF SUKHUMI IN WHAT IS NOW RUSSIAN GEORGIA. IT WAS HERE THE STRATEGY CHANGED. >> HE INTENDED TO DO THE EXPERIMENTS ANOTHER WAY, TO INSEMINATE SOVIET WOMEN WITH THE SPERM OF AN APE MALE, BECAUSE IN THAT CASE, YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE MANY ANIMALS. IT'S SUFFICIENT TO HAVE JUST ONE MALE AS DONOR. >> narrator: BY 1929, IVANOV ACQUIRED SEVERAL MORE APES, AND AMONG THEM WAS THE ORANGUTAN MALE NAMED TARZAN, WHO WAS TO SERVE AS THE SEMEN DONOR. AT THE TIME, IVANOV HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING HIS FIRST CHOICE, THE CHIMPANZEES IN AFRICA, WERE A MORE VIABLE GENETIC MATCH TO HUMANS THAN ORANGUTANS. BUT HE DID KNOW ALL APES ARE SUPERIOR TO HUMANS IN STRENGTH. CLIVE WYNNE IS AN ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA. >> SO I READ KIRILL ROSSIIANOV'S PAPER SOME YEARS BACK. AND IT'S AN AMAZING STORY, RIGHT? >> narrator: WYNNE SAYS EVEN IF INTERBREEDING BETWEEN APES AND HUMANS WAS POSSIBLE, THE IDEA THAT THEY COULD BE MADE INTO SOLDIERS IS PREPOSTEROUS. >> THERE'S NOTHING YOU COULD DO WITH AN APE-HUMAN HYBRID. AS IT IS, CHIMPANZEES OR ANY OF THE OTHER APES ARE MUCH, MUCH STRONGER THAN HUMAN BEINGS ARE. BUT NOBODY WOULD DREAM OF PUTTING THEM INTO ARMIES, BECAUSE, WELL, HOW WOULD YOU ORDER THEM ABOUT? THEY'D RIP YOUR ARM OFF. >> narrator: IF STALIN REALLY WAS LOOKING AT APES AS THE PERFECT BREEDING STOCK FOR A NEW SOLDIER, HE WAS CORRECT ABOUT ONE THING, THEY SHARE THE SAME WILLINGNESS AND ABILITY TO MAKE WAR. >> CHIMPANZEES, LIKE HUMANS, CAN ORGANIZE WITH EACH OTHER TO FIGHT AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBORS. >> narrator: THE QUESTION IS, IF YOU DID CROSS MAN AND APE, WHAT WOULD THE OUTCOME REALLY BE? IRONICALLY, THE 1967 MOVIE <i>PLANET OF THE APES</i> MAY ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE. HYBRIDS WOULD LIKELY HAVE MANY DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES. >> YOU CAN'T PREDICT THAT IT WOULD LOOK HALFWAY BETWEEN A HUMAN AND A CHIMP OR THAT IT WOULD HAVE THE BEST FEATURES OF EACH. >> THAT'S RIGHT, YOU DON'T KNOW. I MEAN, IT MIGHT NOT HAVE THE STRENGTH OF A CHIMPANZEE AND THE INTELLIGENCE OF A HUMAN. IT MIGHT HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE OF A CHIMPANZEE AND THE STRENGTH OF A HUMAN. SO YOU'D HAVE THE WORST OF ALL POSSIBLE ODDS. I MEAN, THEY'D BE A WEIRD-- THEY'D BE A WEIRD BUNCH. >> narrator: AND IF THEY HAD AN APE'S STRENGTH AND MAN'S INTELLECT, THE RESULTS COULD BE FAR WORSE. >> I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWNBOUT MAN. FROM THE EVIDENCE, I BELIEVE HIS WISDOM MUST WALK HAND IN HAND WITH HIS IDIOCY. HIS EMOTIONS MUST RULE HIS BRAIN. HE MUST BE A WARLIKE CREATURE WHO GIVES BATTLE TO EVERYTHING AROUND HIM, EVEN HIMSELF. >> narrator: SOME WILDLIFE RESEARCHERS BELIEVE THAT CHIMPS DO NOT FIGHT TO PROTECT FOOD SOURCES BUT RATHER FOR REASONS OF DOMINATION, MUCH LIKE HUMANS. >> IT'S TRUE THAT CHIMPANZEES ARE VIOLENT. THEY ENGAGE IN WARLIKE BEHAVIOR. BUT THAT'S TRUE OF HUMANS. IT IS A CULTURAL ARTIFACT OF THESE PARTICULAR SPECIES. >> narrator: CHIMPANZEES ARE THOUGHT TO BE BETWEEN FIVE TO TEN TIMES STRONGER THAN THE AVERAGE HUMAN MALE. AND ACCORDING TO THIS FORMER HANDLER, THEY ARE UNPREDICTABLE. >> CHIMPS ARE THE DANGEROUS ANIMALS TO WORK WITH. AND THEY ARE THE SWEETEST, YOU KNOW, THAT'S THE WORST PART. THEY ARE SO LOVEY-DOVEY THAT YOU JUST WANT TO BE WITH THEM. THE PROBLEM IS WHEN THEY GROW AND WHEN THE CHIMPS REALIZE HOW STRONG THEY ARE. >> narrator: CHIMPS OFTEN TARGET THE HANDS, FACE, AND GENITALS, LIKELY INTENDED TO DISABLE AND INTIMIDATE RATHER THAN KILL THE OPPONENT. BILL FIELDS IS A GREAT APE RESEARCHER WHO HAS ALSO HAD SOME CLOSE CALLS. ONE IN PARTICULAR INVOLVED A CHIMP NAMED PISKAY, WHO ACTUALLY SAVED BILL FROM A VIOLENT ATTACK BY ANOTHER GROUP OF CHIMPS. >> AND THEY SCREAMED AT ME, LETTING ME KNOW THEY WERE ABOUT TO ATTACK AND COORDINATE THEIR ATTACK. >> narrator: FIELDS WAS APPARENTLY SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME AND ATTENTION ON ONE GROUP OF CHIMPS, LIKELY MAKING ATHER GROUP JEALOUS. >> AND PISKAY STEPPED IN, TOOK MY SIDE. >> narrator: FIELDS AND PISKAY DIRECTLY CHALLENGED THE ONCOMING CHIMPS, AND THE ATTACKERS BROKE OFF THE ASSAULT. BUT WHY DO CHIMPS ATTACK? EXPERTS SAY THAT, AS WITH HUMANS, THE REASONS VARY. >> IF YOU FORCE THE BABY BECAUSE YOU'RE STRONGER, THEN WHEN THE BABY GROWS UP, THE BABY WILL FORCE YOU TO DO WHAT IT WANTS. >> AND THEY DEFEND THEIR TERRITORY. AND PART OF DEFENDING THEIR TERRITORY IS DEFENDING THEIR RESOURCES. >> THEY FIGHT BECAUSE THE MALES ARE CONCERNED THAT IF THESE OTHER MALES GET TO THE FEMALES, THEY WILL PROBABLY KILL THE OFFSPRING. >> narrator: THE REALITY IS, APES AND PEOPLE ARE MUCH MORE ALIKE THAN EVEN SCIENTISTS EXPECTED. IVANOV WAS RIGHT ON AT LEAST ONE COUNT. CHIMPANZEES ARE ALMOST 99% GENETICALLY IDENTICAL TO MAN AND WOULD BE THE BEST ANIMAL TO TRY TO BREED WITH HUMANS. EXPERTS BELIEVE THAT MAN EVOLVED FROM THE SAME EVOLUTIONARY BRANCH AS CHIMPANZEES. GORILLAS AND ORANGUTANS EVOLVED ALONG A DIFFERENT BRANCH, MAKING INTERBREEDING BETWEEN CHIMPS AND PEOPLE THE MOST LIKELY. IVANOV OBVIOUSLY GAVE SOME THOUGHT TO WHAT THE OFFSPRING WOULD LOOK LIKE, AS HE MADE THESE CRUDE COMPOSITE RENDERINGS, THE HUMAN FACE MORPHING INTO THE HEAD OF AN APE. SO WITH AN APE DONOR, IVANOV'S WORK CONTINUED AMID A CLIMATE OF CHANGE. >> THERE WAS A SENSE THAT THE RUSSIAN MILITARY WAS BACKWARD. AND IT'S IN 1927 THAT STALIN DECIDES THAT THEY HAVE GOT TO MAKE A CONCERTED EFFORT TO REBUILD, DRAMATICALLY EXPAND, AND DEVELOP THEIR MILITARY MACHINE. SO THE IDEA OF BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING AND SOME SORT OF SUPERMAN--I MEAN, THIS, IN A WAY, IS THE ANSWER TO A COUNTRY THAT IS SUFFERING FROM ONE DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER. >> narrator: PERHAPS IVANOV ALSO KNEW OF ZANA. SHE WAS, AFTER ALL, ALIVE DURING THE EARLY PART OF HIS CAREER IN THE LATE 1800s. IVANOV WOULD HAVE BEEN TROUBLED WITH THE SAME QUESTIONS WE HAVE TODAY. WAS ZANA JUST A HAIRY WILD WOMAN, AN APE-HUMAN HYBRID MADE IN THE WILD, OR AN UNKNOWN APE SPECIES THAT LOCALS CALLED THE ALMASTY? NEW DNA TESTS COULD REVEAL THE ANSWER. CURT NELSON AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA IS INTENT ON IDENTIFYING THE DNA FROM ZANA'S SON KHWIT. >> NOW I'M GOING TO SCORE THE TOOTH WITH A DREMEL TOOL. [drill whirring] OKAY, I'VE GOT MY THREE SAMPLES HERE. THE FIRST ONE IS THE DRILL POWDER FROM THE DREMEL TOOL. AND THESE TWO ARE THE SMASHED TOOTH DIVIDED UP INTO TWO SAMPLES. AND ONE OF THEM, I'VE ADDED THE HUMAN CELLS THAT I HAVE TO ACT AS A POSITIVE CONTROL. I SHOULD GET DNA IN THAT ONE IF THE CHEMISTRY WORKS. I'VE DESIGNED SOME PRIMERS THAT AMPLIFY DNA THAT IS DIFFERENT IN HUMANS AND CHIMPANZEES. SO I THINK THAT IF AN ALMASTY IS A REAL CREATURE THAT HAS DNA THAT MAYBE IS INTERMEDIATE BETWEEN CHIMPANZEES AND HUMANS THAT I COULD SEE THAT DIFFERENCE USING THIS PRIMERS. WHAT I'M GOING TO DO IS, I'M GONNA LOOK AT THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA AND DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THE SEQUENCE IS HUMAN. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA IS INHERITED EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE MOTHER. SO THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA FROM KHWIT SHOULD BE THE SAME AS THAT OF ZANA, HIS MOTHER. >> narrator: IN MEXICO, DANNY RAMOS HAS LITTLE CONCERN ABOUT HIS CONDITION OR WHERE IT CAME FROM. >> [speaking Spanish] >> I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM THAT I HAVE. THE ONLY THING I KNOW IS THAT IT WAS INHERITED FROM AN UNCLE. >> narrator: OVER THE YEARS, HE HAS TRIED TO SATISFY CURIOSITY SEEKERS AS WELL AS THOSE WHO WANTED TO TEST HIS HAIR AND BLOOD TO SEE IF HE ACTUALLY WAS AN APE-MAN. BUT IN HIS HEART, DANNY HAS ALWAYS KNOWN THE TRUTH. >> I AM DIFFERENT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE HAIR. INSIDE, I AM A NORMAL PERSON. WHETHER I FALL IN LOVE OR DON'T FALL IN LOVE, I HAVE A HEART. I HAVE A HEART. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS MY HAIR. >> narrator: MANY PEOPLE HAVE ASKED WHY HE DOES NOT JUST SHAVE HIS FACE. BUT HE REFUSES. HE SAYS, "THIS IS WHO I AM." TO SILENCE THOSE WHO STILL BELIEVE HE IS LESS THAN HUMAN, <i> MONSTER QUEST</i> HAS DNA TESTED A SAMPLE OF DANNY'S HAIR. HE IS 100% HUMAN. DANNY'S CONDITION IS NOT THE RESULT OF HYBRIDIZATION. ONE VIEW OF HYPERTRICHOSIS IS THAT IT'S A TYPE OF ATAVISM. >> ATAVISM MEANS "EVOLUTIONARY THROWBACK." AND ATAVISM IS ONE OF THE PIECES OF EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION. THERE ARE HUMANS THAT HAVE TAILS THAT ARE CLIPPED OFF AT THE HOSPITAL. BUT, YOU KNOW, THAT'S CONSIDERED TO BE AN ATAVISTIC TRAIT BECAUSE THE ANCESTORS OF THE APES HAD TAILS. >> narrator: WHILE DANNY'S APPEARANCE CAN EASILY BE EXPLAINED, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN OTHER MYSTERY APE SIGHTINGS? >> OH, I THINK THERE'S NO DOUBT THAT THERE ARE UNDISCOVERED SPECIES IN EVERY CORNER OF THE PLANET. >> narrator: LONG BEFORE IVANOV AND ZANA, ANOTHER MAN WAS SPECULATING ON OUR EVOLUTIONARY PAST. IN 1859, CHARLES DARWIN AND OTHERS SET THE STAGE FOR SCIENTIFIC DEBATE ABOUT HUMAN EVOLUTION AND NATURAL SELECTION. >> HE DID A FANTASTIC JOB OF GETTING HIS ARMS AROUND EVOLUTION. >> narrator: PHILLIP REGAL IS A PROFESSOR OF EVOLUTION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. >> WE KNOW NATURAL SELECTION WORKS, OKAY? WE KNOW GENETIC DRIFT CAN PLAY A ROLE. WE KNOW SEXUAL SELECTION CAN PLAY A ROLE. WE KNOW CHROMOSOMAL REARRANGEMENTS CAN PLAY A ROLE. FINDING OUT HOW THEY ALL FIT TOGETHER, THOUGH, IS CONTROVERSIAL. >> narrator: WHILE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN'S EVOLUTIONARY TREE IS STILL INCOMPLETE, EXPERTS SAY THE TOUMAI FOSSIL FOUND IN CHAD IN 2001 EXHIBITS HUMANLIKE SKELETAL FEATURES INDICATIVE OF AN UPRIGHT POSTURE. TOUMAI IS CONSIDERED A HUMAN ANCESTOR AND APPEARED AFTER THE SPLIT FROM CHIMPANZEES ABOUT 7 1/2 MILLION YEARS AGO. HOWEVER, A RECENT STUDY FROM THE BROAD INSTITUTE IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, NOW SUGGESTS THAT PREHUMAN HOMINIDS AND CHIMP SPECIES MAY HAVE INTERBRED FOR APPROXIMATELY ANOTHER 2 MILLION YEARS BEFORE DIVERGING AGAIN FOR GOOD APPROXIMATELY 5 1/2 MILLION YEARS AGO. >> IF WE HAD INTERBRED WITH CHIMPANZEES OR GORILLAS, THAT WOULDN'T SHOCK ME. >> narrator: IT WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE, BECAUSE THE EARLY APE AND MAN SPECIES HAD NOT DIVERGED AS MUCH AS THEY HAVE TODAY. AS EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS THEORY, NONHUMAN PRIMATES DO INTERBREED. >> THERE ARE BABOONS AND MACAQUES THAT HAVE INTERBRED AND HYBRIDS IN NATURE AND IN THE LABORATORY, MONKEYS. THERE ARE SUPPOSEDLY HYBRIDS BETWEEN CHIMPANZEES AND BONOBOS. >> narrator: BONOBOS ARE THE FREE LOVE APES. THEY ENGAGE IN SEXUAL ACTIVITY ALL THE TIME. SEXUAL EXPRESSION IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF COMMUNICATION. AND IT IS NOT UNHEARD OF FOR APES TO BECOME ATTRACTED TO HUMANS, LIKE THIS DRAMATIC SCENE PLAYED OUT IN THE 1933 MOVIE <i>KING KONG.</i> BUT MOST RESEARCHERS SHY AWAY FROM THE INTERBREEDING THEORY, EVEN IN THE FIELD OF CRYPTOZOOLOGY, THE STUDY OF CRYPTIDS OR LEGENDARY ANIMALS WHICH INCLUDE CREATURES LIKE THE RUSSIAN ALMASTY, ASIAN YETI, AND AMERICAN BIGFOOT OR SASQUATCH. THE MOST COMMONLY HELD THEORY IS THAT THESE CREATURES ARE UNIQUE SPECIES OF ANCIENT APE, NOT MAN, AND HAVE SOMEHOW BEEN ABLE TO DELAY EXTINCTION BY REMAINING UNDETECTED BY THEIR MOST LIKELY ENEMY, HUMANS. GIGANTOPITHECUS IS CITED AS THE MOST LIKELY ANCESTOR, A MASSIVE APE 11 TO 15 FEET TALL THAT LIVED ALONGSIDE MAN ONLY A FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS AGO. THIS GIANT LIVED THROUGHOUT ASIA AND SOME BELIEVE EVEN MADE IT TO NORTH AMERICA OVER EARLY LAND BRIDGES. >> WELL, THERE'S ABOUT 2,000 OR SO TRIBES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES. AND OF THOSE, THERE'S PROBABLY 1,800 THAT HAVE TRADITIONAL STORIES THAT DESCRIBE AN ANIMAL THAT IS THE HAIRY MAN. >> narrator: TO MANY, THE THOUGHT OF A LARGE UNDISCOVERED PRIMATE TODAY IS FICTION. BUT ACCORDING TO THIS EXPERT, IT IS MORE THAN LIKELY. >> IN A PLE LIKE NORTH AMERICA, WHERE A LOT OF RESEARCH HAS BEEN DONE AND WHERE THE TOTAL DIVERSITY IS LESS THAN IN, SAY, THE TROPICAL RAINFOREST OR THE DEEP SEA OCEAN TRENCHES, I THINK WE'RE GOING TO HAVE LESS SPECIES DISCOVERIES, NEW SPECIES DISCOVERIES, THAN IN THESE TROPICAL REGIONS, BUT I'M PRETTY CONVINCED THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO FIND NEW SPECIES. >> narrator: DR. RUSSELL MITTERMEIER IS A PRIMATOLOGIST AND THE PRESIDENT OF CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL. ACCORDING TO MITTERMEIER, 38 SPECIES OF MONKEYS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED WORLDWIDE SINCE 1980. SO A LARGE, UNDISCOVERED PRIMATE IS A POSSIBILITY. >> THE WHOLE BUSINESS OF THE YETI AND THE SASQUATCH OR BIGFOOT IS--IT'S VERY INTERESTING. AND I'M SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES TO SOME EXTENT IN THE POSSIBLE EXISTENCE OF THESE CREATURES. >> narrator: ANOTHER THEORY THAT'S BEEN PUT FORWARD IS THAT THESE CREATURES ARE PEOPLE WITH HYPERTRICHOSIS WHO HAVE BECOME SOCIAL OUTCASTS RELEGATED TO LIFE IN THE WOODS. PHIL REGAL SAYS THAT IS UNLIKELY. >> IF IT WAS AN ATAVISM, YOU'D EXPECT ONE CHARACTER. YOU WOULDN'T EXPECT LONG LEGS, HAIRY BODY, PROGNATHISM, NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK, THAT SORT OF THING. THAT'S AN AWFUL LOT OF CHARACTERS FOR AN ATAVISM. IT'S MORE LIKE A DISTINCT SPECIES. >> narrator: IVANOV KNEW INTERBREEDING BETWEEN SIMILAR ANIMALS WAS POSSIBLE. EARLY IN HIS CAREER, HE BRED SEVERAL HYBRIDS THAT DID NOT EXIST IN THE WILD, FROM THE ANTELOPE-COW TO A MOUSE-RAT AND GUINEA PIG-RABBIT. THIS IMAGE IS OF THE ANIMAL HE CALLED THE "ZEEDONK," A ZEBRA-DONKEY CROSS. A VIABLE APE-MAN CROSS WASN'T A BIG LEAP FOR IVANOV'S WAY OF THINKING. SO WHEN THE CHIMPS FAILED TO BECOME PREGNANT, HE ARRANGED FOR THE ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF WOMEN VOLUNTEERS WITH THE SPERM OF TARZAN, THE ORANGUTAN MALE. >> BUT IT IS INTERESTING THAT THERE WERE SO MANY SCIENTISTS WHO SUPPORTED THE EXPERIMENTS EVEN--I MEAN, THE EXPERIMENTS ON THE INSEMINATION OF WOMEN. MOTIVATION OF WOMEN WHO WOULD DECIDE VOLUNTARILY TO TAKE PART IN THE EXPERIMENTS SHOULD BE SCIENTIFIC IN A SENSE. THEY SHOULD FEEL, UNDERSTAND THAT THEY HELPED SCIENCE. >> narrator: IT WAS DIFFICULT TO FIND SUCH WOMEN. BUT IN 1928, A VOLUNTEER CAME TO HIM. SHE WAS A WOMAN FROM LENINGRAD CITED ONLY AS "G." >> "DEAR PROFESSOR, WITH MY PRIVATE LIFE IN RUINS, I DON'T SEE ANY SENSE IN MY FURTHER EXISTENCE. BUT WHEN I THINK THAT I COULD DO A SERVICE FOR SCIENCE, I FEEL ENOUGH COURAGE TO CONTACT YOU. I BEG YOU, DON'T REFUSE ME. I ASK YOU TO ACCEPT ME FOR THE EXPERIMENT." >> narrator: THE QUESTION OF WHETHER CHIMPS AND HUMANS COULD STILL INTERBREED TODAY IS COMPLEX AND CONTROVERSIAL. WHILE WE ARE VERY SIMILAR GENETICALLY, THE DIFFERENT NUMBER OF CHROMOSOMES IN CHIMPS AND HUMANS PRESENTS PROBLEMS. >> IF A HUMAN-APE HYBRID WERE TO BE PRODUCED, I THINK IT WOULD BE SEVERELY MALFORMED AND PROFOUNDLY RETARDED. I THINK YOU WOULD JUST GET A HUGE MESS. I WOULD EXPECT THIS OFFSPRING TO EITHER NOT LIVE VERY LONG OR NOT EVEN MAKE IT TO BIRTH. WHERE SIMILAR ANIMALS WITH A DIFFERENT NUMBER OF CHROMOSOMES HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PRODUCE OFFSPRING LIKE THE MULE, A CROSS MALE DONKEY AND A FEMALE HORSE, OR A LIGER, THE OFFSPRING OF A MALE LION AND A FEMALE TIGER. BUT THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THESE NEW HYBRIDS. >> IT'S LIKE SHUFFLING A DECK OF CARDS. SOMETIMES YOU'RE GONNA GET A WINNING HAND. SOMETIMES YOU'RE GONNA GET A LOSING HAND. PROBABLY MOST OFTEN, YOU'RE GONNA GET A LOSING HAND. >> narrator: EVEN IF AN APE AND HUMAN WERE ABLE TO HAVE A CHILD, THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE A GRANDCHILD FOR THE SAME REASON THAT MULES CANNOT REPRODUCE. >> HYPOTHETICALLY, EVEN IF WE COULD PRODUCE SOME SORT OF HUMAN-APE HYBRID OFFSPRING, IT WOULD BE INFERTILE. SO IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO START TO CREATE A RACE OF THEM BY BREEDING THEM WITH EACH OTHER. >> narrator: BUT REGAL DISAGREES IN THEORY. >> THERE ARE A LOT OF MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT HYBRIDIZATION, AND ONE IS THAT HYBRIDS ARE ALWAYS GONNA BE INVIABLE LIKE MULES. MULES BECOME THE PARADIGM FOR HYBRIDS. BUT THAT'S JUST A RARE EXAMPLE. THERE ARE HYBRIDS ALL OVER THE PLACE. AND THEY'RE NOT NECESSARILY INVIABLE. THERE'S NO LAW OF HYBRIDIZATION. AND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MAN AND CHIMPS MAY BE SMALLER THAN WE THINK. >> MANY OF THE SAME EMOTIONS THAT THEY FEEL, WE FEEL. MANY OF THE SAME THOUGHTS WE HAVE, IN SOME WAYS, THEY HAVE. >> narrator: KANZI AND PANBANISHA ARE BONOBOS, A GREAT APE AND COUSIN OF THE CHIMPANZEE. THEY LIVE AT THE GREAT APE TRUST OF IOWA, A PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER IN DES MOINES. THIS NEW GREAT APE WAS FIRST DISCOVERED IN THE WILD IN AFRICA IN 1928 LIVING IN AN AREA SURROUNDED BY CHIMPANZEES AND GORILLAS. BONOBOS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE AMONG THE MOST INTELLIGENT APES IN THE WORLD AND, IN MANY WAYS, THE MOST SIMILAR TO HUMANS. >> MELON. >> MELON. >> THANK YOU. >> narrator: COMPARED TO CHIMPANZEES, BONOBOS HAVE A MORE HUMANLIKE FACE AND WALK UPRIGHT MORE OFTEN. THEY ALSO SEEM TO BE MORE WILLING AND ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH US. >> THE MENTAL ABILITIES THAT WE OFTEN LOOK AT ARE LANGUAGE, PLANNING, PROBLEM SOLVING, LEARNING, SOCIAL COORDINATION. >> narrator: THE APES HAVE BEEN IN CAPTIVITY SINCE INFANCY. THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH THROUGH A TOUCH SCREEN OF UNIQUE SYMBOLS REPRESENTING OVER 350 WORDS. >> FIND MATATA. >> MATATA. >> VERY GOOD. >> PART OF THEIR ABILITY IS--IS THAT THEY HAVE HUMAN ABILITIES. AND THEY HAVE THOSE HUMAN ABILITIES BECAUSE THEY HAVE GROWN UP IN A WORLD THAT HAS BEEN POPULATED BY HUMANS. AND THEIR CULTURAL EXPOSURE IS INFORMED BY HUMANNESS. >> narrator: AND LIKE OTHER CHIMPANZEES, THEY ARE EMOTIONAL BEINGS. >> WHETHER THEY'RE FRUSTRATED, WHETHER THEY'RE HAPPY, WHETHER THEY'RE EXCITED--BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOME OF THE SAME FACIAL MUSCLES THAT WE HAVE, AND AS A RESULT, SHOW THE SAME FACIAL EXPRESSIONS THAT WE DO. IN SOME WAYS, THEY'RE MORE HUMANLIKE THAN WE REALLY REALIZE. >> THE APES ACQUIRE LANGUAGE JUST AS HUMAN CHILDREN ACQUIRE LANGUAGE. THEY ACQUIRE IT BY GROWING UP IN A WORLD THAT USES LANGUAGE. >> CHEESE. >> CHEESE. GOOD. >> MELON. >> MELON. GOOD. >> APES LEARN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS HUMANS DO. >> narrator: BUT THEY ALSO SHOW WE HAVE MUCH MORE TO LEARN. >> WE THINK WE ARE THE MOST INTELLIGENT. AND THAT MAY BE THE CASE. I'M JUST SAYING THAT THAT IS A VERY HUMAN-ORIENTED VIEW OF WHAT INTELLIGENCE IS. IF I WENT TO THE CONGO, MY ABILITY TO DO CALCULUS OR MY ABILITY TO PLAY THE PIANO OR WHATEVER IT IS I CAN DO THAT PEOPLE THINK IS A SMART THING THAT I DO, WOULD BE MEANINGLESS THERE. >> YOU CAN GET THE GRAPES OUT OF THE BACKPACK IF YOU LIKE. GO AHEAD. I DON'T CARE. GO AHEAD. IT'S OKAY WITH ME IF YOU GET THE GRAPES. THEY'RE GOOD GRAPES. [bonobo shrieking] >> narrator: IVANOV WAS NOT ALONE IN EXPLOITING THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PRIMATES AND HUMANS. MEDICAL RESEARCH HAS LONG USED PRIMATES TO FURTHER OUR KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINE. THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE CONSIDERED JUSTIFIABLE BY SOME AND EXAMPLES OF ANIMAL CRUELTY BY OTHERS. >> I HAVE BEEN CALLED FRANKENSTEIN, DR. FRANKENSTEIN. >> narrator: DR. ROBERT WHITE IS A WORLD-RENOWNED NEUROSURGEON. IN AN EFFORT TO FIND RELIEF FOR HUMAN QUADRIPLEGICS LIVING INSIDE DECAYING BODIES, HE PROPOSED FINDING A WAY TO TRANSPLANT A HUMAN HEAD ONTO A BRAIN-DEAD HUMAN BODY. DR. WHITE BEGAN PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS ON PRIMATES IN 1970. VIEWERS ARE WARNED THAT THE FOLLOWING FOOTAGE IS GRAPHIC. IT SHOWS DR. WHITE'S SURGERY REMOVING THE HEAD OF ONE MONKEY AND PUTTING IT ON THE BODY OF ANOTHER. CRITICS MIGHT SAY WHITE'S PROCEDURE WAS CRUEL. WHITE SAYS IT WAS CRITICAL IN ADVANCING SURGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR THE BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD INJURIES. HE SAYS HE COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT HIS WORK WITH MONKEYS. >> BECAUSE WE'RE LOOKING AT THE SAME CELLS, THE SAME FIBERS, THE SAME ARRANGEMENTS, THE SAME CHEMICAL REACTIONS TAKE PLACE IN THE TISSUES. THE BIOPHYSICAL ACTIVITY WHICH COMES OUT THE OTHER END IS ELECTRICAL--THE WAY THE CELLS COMMUNICATE. SO IN OTHER WORDS, WE'VE GOT THE SAME WIRING. >> narrator: DR. WHITE WANTED TO VERIFY IF HE COULD TRANSPLANT CONSCIOUSNESS. >> WE FIGURED THE ONLY WAY WE COULD DO IT WAS DEVELOP AN OPERATION SO WE COULD TRANSPLANT THE BRAIN INSIDE THE SKULL STILL SURROUNDED BY THE HEAD. >> narrator: THE EXPERIMENT WAS A SUCCESS IN THAT THE MONKEY WAS ABLE TO THINK AND ACT UPON ITS THOUGHTS, PROVING TO WHITE THAT ITS CONSCIOUSNESS ALSO MOVED TO THE NEW HOST BODY. >> THE HEAD CONTAINING THE BRAIN NOW CONNECTED TO THE BODY OF ANOTHER ANIMAL SUDDENLY AWAKENED, BECAME VERY PUGNACIOUS, AND IN A SENSE, AS FAR AS ITS MOUTH AND TEETH WERE CONCERNED, VERY DANGEROUS. AND FROM WHERE OUR OBSERVATIONS OF THE ANIMAL WERE TAKING PLACE, HE COULD SEE, TASTE, SMELL, AND I WANT TO TELL YOU, BITE. >> narrator: ETHICAL ISSUES HALTED DR. WHITE'S EXPERIMENTS IN ANY CAPACITY FOR GOOD. IN FACT, NATURE MOST LIKELY PREVENTS ANY FUTURE POSSIBILITY OF TRANSPLANTING THE HEAD OF A HUMAN ONTO THE BODY OF AN APE. >> THE IMMUNOLOGICAL PROBLEM HERE, TISSUE REJECTION, WOULD BE FORMIDABLE. >> narrator: HOW IS HEAD TRANSPLANTATION ANY DIFFERENT THAN GENETIC ENGINEERING OTHER THAN WHAT WE ARE CREATING IN THE LABS CANNOT LOOK BACK AT US OR BITE JUST YET? IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT IVANOV WAS NEITHER AN ATHEIST NOR A RELIGIOUS MAN. HE WAS INDIFFERENT. SO THE METAPHYSICAL QUESTION IS, WOULD HE PERCEIVE THE HYBRIDS AS ANIMALS OR AS HUMAN BEINGS? >> HE THOUGHT OF HIMSELF AS A SERIOUS SCIENTIST. AND HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE UNSCIENTIFIC TO SPECULATE ABOUT THAT AT THIS EARLY STAGE. >> narrator: SO IVANOV MOVED FORWARD TO INSEMINATE WOMAN "G" WITH ORANGUTAN SPERM. AT THE SAME TIME, DEVASTATING FORCES IN RUSSIA CONSPIRED AGAINST HIM. >> narrator: IN 2006, NEWSPAPERS AROUND THE WORLD RAN STORIES OF JOSEPH STALIN'S ALLEGED EFFORT TO CREATE AN APE-MAN SOLDIER. THIS MAN SAYS HE HAS THE DOCUMENTS TO PROVE INTERBREEDING EFFORTS WERE MADE. THIS MAN SAYS AN APE-WOMAN NAMED ZANA LIVED IN RUSSIA 20 YEARS EARLIER. THIS MAN IS DOING DNA TESTING OF ZANA'S SON KHWIT. ILYA IVANOV'S ATTEMPTS TO INSEMINATE CHIMPS WITH HUMAN SPERM WERE UNSUCCESSFUL. THEN IN 1929, BEFORE HE COULD INSEMINATE A RUSSIAN WOMAN WITH ORANGUTAN SPERM, HIS PLAN WAS DERAILED WHEN THE DONOR ORANGUTAN, TARZAN, DIED. AND FOR IVANOV, THE HISTORIC WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY WAS CLOSING. AND IVANOV'S EXPERIMENTS WERE NEVER COMPLETED. TRUE TO HIS CAPRICIOUS AND OPPORTUNISTIC NATURE, STALIN, BY THIS TIME, HAD ELIMINATED ALL OF THE OLD-SCHOOL BOLSHEVIKS INCLUDING MANY PROMINENT SCIENTISTS. HE WAS ON HIS PATH OF DESTRUCTION. AND WHAT OF IVANOV? >> AND IVANOV WAS ARRESTED, PUT INTO JAIL. >> narrator: THEY WERE NOW CONSIDERED OLD SPECIALISTS AND WERE VULNERABLE TO REPRESSION AND POLITICAL CRITICISM. ONE YEAR LATER IN 1932, IVANOV DIED OF A STROKE. HIS PERSONAL QUEST WAS OVER. ONE OF THE MOST SENSATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE STORY IN <i>THE SCOTSMAN</i> NEWSPAPER WAS THAT STALIN WANTED IVANOV TO ENGINEER AN APE-MAN SOLDIER. BUT DID HE? IT SEEMS THAT WHAT BEGAN AS A SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE TURNED INTO A SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER. >> I WROTE UP A LITTLE PIECE ABOUT IT FOR<i> THE NEW YORK TIMES.</i> AND IT GOT PUBLISHED. AND THEN--AND I WAS WATCHING TO SEE, YOU KNOW, IS ANYBODY GONNA PICK UP THIS STORY? DOES THE WORLD FIND THIS AS EXCITING AS I DO? AND THEN ABOUT TEN DAYS LATER, THERE'S THIS EVEN WACKIER STORY COMES OUT OF A BRITISH NEWSPAPER,<i> THE SCOTSMAN,</i> THAT THIS IS--THAT THIS WAS TO DO WITH STALIN WANTING TO BREED A RACE OF SUPER WARRIORS. AND WHAT I THINK MUST HAVE HAPPENED IS THAT MY LITTLE STORY IN<i> THE NEW YORK TIMES</i> GOT PICKED UP AND ELABORATED AND EMBELLISHED BY SOME RUSSIAN NEWSPAPERS. AND THEN<i> THE SCOTSMAN'S</i> REPORTER IN MOSCOW CAME ACROSS THOSE STORIES AND REPEATED THEM. >> narrator: WHAT WERE IVANOV'S REAL INTENTIONS THEN? IVANOV'S RECORDS REVEAL THAT THE INTENDED REASON FOR THE EXPERIMENTS WAS NOT TO CREATE A SUPER WARRIOR AFTER ALL, BUT RATHER TO DISCREDIT THE CHURCH BY SUPPORTING EVOLUTION OVER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. >> IVANOV EXPECTED THAT HIS EXPERIMENTS WOULD BE A HUGE STEP TOWARDS ESTABLISHING THE EXACT HUMAN GENEALOGY AND SHOULD BE USED IN ANTIRELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE. THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ENJOYED HUGE INFLUENCE IN RUSSIAN POLITICAL LIFE. AND IVANOV AND HIS EVENTUAL PATRONS WERE AFRAID OF PERSECUTION FROM THE POWERFUL CHURCH. AND WHAT OF JOSEPH STALIN'S INVOLVEMENT? >> I THINK THAT STALIN HAD REALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE EXPERIMENTS. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE CLAIM. >> narrator: THE ONLY DIRECT CONNECTION TO STALIN WAS A SCIENTIFIC GRANT AWARDED TO IVANOV, SOMETHING STALIN HAD DONE WITH MANY OTHER SCIENTISTS OF THE TIME. IN FACT, LATER DOCUMENTS SEEMED TO SUPPORT THAT STALIN HELD STRONG VIEWS AGAINST INTERBREEDING. >> IN 1936, AN AMERICAN GENETICIST, HERMANN MULLER, CAME TO THE SOVIET UNION AND PROPOSED TO STALIN A RADICAL EUGENIC PLAN. HE SUGGESTED THAT THE SOVIET UNION START THE PROGRAM OF THE ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OF WOMEN WITH THE SPERM OF OUTSTANDING MEN. STALIN WAS FURIOUS. HE VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED THIS PLAN. >> narrator: WHY THEN WAS STALIN RUMORED TO BE INVOLVED AND HOW DID THE STORIES OF STALIN'S APE-MAN COME TO BE? >> PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS INTERESTED IN DICTATORS. SO IT WOULD MAKE THE STORY MORE--SOUND MORE INTERESTING. >> narrator: AND WHAT OF MOTHER NATURE? COULD SHE BE CREATING APE-MEN THAT WALK AMONG US? COULD ZANA BE EVIDENCE OF NATURE'S HANDIWORK? BIOLOGIST CURT NELSON HAS THE DNA RESULTS. >> OKAY, HERE WE HAVE IT. THE SAMPLES ARE DIVIDED INTO THREE SETS. THIS IS THE POSITIVE CONTROL. THIS IS PURIFIED HUMAN DNA IN EACH CASE. WE GOT A GOOD STRONG BAND SO THAT THE PURIFICATION WORKED. BUT WHAT YOU SEE IS THAT THERE'S NO BANDS IN EITHER THE DRILL POWDER OR THE SMASHED TOOTH SAMPLE IN EACH OF THE THREE PRIMER CASES. SO THAT MEANS THAT I JUST FAILED TO GET DNA. IT'S CERTAINLY A TOOTH. THERE WAS DNA THERE AT ONE TIME. IT MEANS THAT THE QUESTION OF WHAT THE--WHAT KIND OF A CREATURE THIS WAS IS STILL UP IN THE AIR. >> narrator: WHILE HISTORY SAYS APES AND MAN LIKELY INTERBRED MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO, SCIENCE SAYS IT IS LIKELY NOT HAPPENING TODAY. AT LEAST, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE APE-MAN HYBRIDS CURRENTLY EXIST IN NATURE OR IN THE LAB. BUT SCIENCE CONTINUES TO PUSH FORWARD TO A TIME WHEN<i> PLANET OF</i> <i>THE APES</i> COULD BECOME A REALITY. >> PERHAPS INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR SOME HYBRID CREATURE OUT THERE NOW, PERHAPS WE ARE THE HYBRID CREATURE. >> narrator: THE QUEST FOR AN APE-MAN HYBRID OR SIMPLY A BETTER, STRONGER MAN IS AN AGE-OLD PURSUIT THAT IS TIGHTLY KNITTED INTO OUR HISTORY, SCIENCE, AND LEGEND. THE ASTOUNDING POSSIBILITIES OF MODERN SCIENCE SHED A NEW LIGHT ON IVANOV AND HIS VISIONARY WORK. WE WILL FIND THE ANSWERS TO OUR ANCESTRY SOMEDAY, NOT BECAUSE WE WANT TO MAKE A HYBRID, BUT BECAUSE AS HUMANS, WE ARE CURIOUS. Captioning by<font color="#00FF00"> CaptionMax</font> www.captionmax.com
