Orangutans may be more closely related to red-haired humans than scientists previously thought, a new genetic study has shown.
A new study from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Munich has produced the first ever blueprint of the orangutan genetic code to surprising results.
The first blueprint of the orangutan genetic code has confirmed that they share 97 percent of their DNA with red-haired people.
“At first we couldn’t believe our findings, but when you think about it now, it all makes sense, the resemblance is uncanny,” said Professor Otto von Weisenberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Munich.
“The theory that red-haired people were genetically linked to orangutans is not new, but now we have undeniable proof,” acknowledged Professor Weisenberg.
In 1926, Russian biologist Gogomir Ivanov artificially inseminated a female orangutan with semen from a red-haired Irish man to prove his theory that both species had a common ancestor.
Although Dr. Ivanov claimed that the experiment resulted in a 38-pound human-orangutan hybrid baby that died only after a few days, his results were attacked by the Eastern Orthodox Church at the time and his experiment was branded heretical and a fraud.
“A human-orangutan hybrid would be theoretically and technically feasible because of the common DNA of both species but completely unfeasible from an ethical standpoint,” Professor Weisenberg admitted.
In 1966, an Indonesian man made headlines after claiming that his mother admitted to him on her deathbed that he had been conceived from the union between her and an orangutan that had sexually assaulted her.
Although Panang Yanam Bunteran never underwent any scientific examination, his body, face, and genitalia were covered since his birth with a thick layer of orange hair and he suffered a tragically ill fate after being hunted down and killed by local villagers who believed he was the incarnation of Panampak, a local demon.
