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[–]ageingrockstar 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Ever come across the human hybrid theory ? The theory is that at some time a wild (male) boar mated with a (female) chimpanzee, which produced a hybrid and then, with a lot of backcrossing (further mating with chimps), a new species arose (humans).

Dr. Eugene McCarthy is a Ph.D. geneticist who has made a career out of studying hybridization in animals. He now curates a biological information website called Macroevolution.net where he has amassed an impressive body of evidence suggesting that human origins can be best explained by hybridization between pigs and chimpanzees. Extraordinary theories require extraordinary evidence and McCarthy does not disappoint. Rather than relying on genetic sequence comparisons, he instead offers extensive anatomical comparisons, each of which may be individually assailable, but startling when taken together. Why weren't these conclusions arrived at much sooner? McCarthy suggests it is because of an over-dependence on genetic data among biologists. He argues that humans are probably the result of multiple generations of backcrossing to chimpanzees, which in nucleotide sequence data comparisons would effectively mask any contribution from pig.

https://phys.org/news/2013-07-chimp-pig-hybrid-humans.html

https://www.macroevolution.net/hybrid-hypothesis-contents.html

[–]NetweaselContinuing the struggle 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

The theory is that at some time a wild (male) boar mated with a (female) chimpanzee, which produced a hybrid and then.....

Why weren't these conclusions arrived at much sooner?

Extra reference: Family Resemblance by Alan Nourse (1953).

https://archive.org/details/sim_astounding-science-fiction_1953-04_51_2/page/136/mode/2up

[–]ageingrockstar 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Ha, I've just scanned the text file of that short story and see that the doctor in the story is making a similar argument. Nice connection.

I suspect it's why there's a cultural/religious taboo against eating pork. Because others have made the connection before too.

[–]NetweaselContinuing the struggle 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I suspect it's why there's a cultural/religious taboo against eating pork.

On the other hand... pigs love bacon.

[–]3andfro 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Trichinosis also may have something to do with it.