STRANGEST FACT CONTEST

I was talking to someone at work when Stalin's alleged plan to breed a race of human/apes (humanzee) came up. What were we talking about that segued into that? I have no idea. However, I do love stuff like that, so I had to do a quick google search. Turns out that there are a number of citations to a story run in the Scotsman in 2005. See here, here, here, here, and here, for instance. The last link is the show MonsterQuest investigation into the question, and is perhaps more reliable than the others. It appears that there was funding for an attempt to create a humanzee, but not necessarily for the purpose of creating a Planet of the Apes army, which most of the others allege. So, that's all pretty strange. However, UFO Digest takes the strange to a new level. I am putting forth the entire quote below. No seriously, I did not make this up.

Reason for the Failure

Ivanov was undoubtedly a student of Darwinism and sincerely believed Mankind was related to the great apes: orangutan, gorilla, and chimpanzee. But he didn't consider the possibility that we were not.

Great apes have 24 pairs of chromosomes. That is the female has 24 pairs of chromosomes in her egg and the male has 24 pairs of chromosomes in his sperm.

Humans have only 23 pairs of chromosomes and what is truly remarkable about this fact is that we apparently once had 24 pairs of chromosomes just like the great apes!

What science has discovered is that our second and third chromosomes have been fused together. This fusing could only be accomplished in a laboratory by manipulating the egg. No disease or natural genetic condition has ever caused a species to alter its chromosomal structure!

First, to feel like you need a "reason for failure" section in a story about creating a super soldier race by crossbreeding chimps and humans is, in and of itself, remarkable. Second, the first listed reason for failure was a failure to consider the possibility that humans and chimps do NOT have a common ancestor! Third, "no natural genetic condition has ever caused a species to alter its chromosomal structure!" Uh. That's evolution. Without changes in chromosomal structure you have no evolution. Is UFO Digest arguing that the humanzee experiment failed because evolution is not scientifically sound? Given the title of the publication, did aliens alter the human chromosomal structure? Was it to keep humans from sweet, sweet chimpanzee love? Damn you E.T.! Damn you to hell!