Oliver The Humanzee -- Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?


Although I’d certainly recommend supporting UPN’s Enterprise tonight at 8pm -- the show’s future is in some doubt and it can use all the help it can get -- the really amazing TV choice tonight is an encore presentation (from last year) of the guaranteed-to-freak-you-out Discovery Channel documentary Humanzee, also at 8pm. Telling the story of Oliver, the sideshow chimpanzee whose uncanny human-like behavior led many to believe him a mutant, or better yet, a human/chimp hybrid, Humanzee is one of those shows you’ll not soon forget.

What made Oliver so unusual? Well, in addition to a human-like nose and walking upright all the time, he was a pariah among other chimpanzees and preferred to live with his human owners, even going so far as to enjoy a nightcap before bedtime and helping with chores around the house. Not to mention that once he got to sexual maturity he started to put the moves on his owner’s wife…but you’ll find out more about that on the show. Anybody who thought Zira had a little crush on astronaut Taylor in Planet of the Apes will no doubt sympathize with Oliver’s plight.

Extreme Makeover, indeed! It doesn’t get much more extreme than the possibility of humans breeding with chimpanzees, and even though chromosonal evidence has come in suggesting that Oliver is merely -- but genuinely -- an incredible mutant, but an ape after all, it still doesn’t make the story of this unusual and haunting creature any less compelling.

And in the embarrassment of riches department, more of life’s rich unusual pageant can be seen in Discovery Health’s Dying To Be Apart documentary about the ill-fated Egyptians conjoined twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani, also airing at 8pm. (Check out my blog from July 9th of last year for more on their poignant plight).

Thank goodness for encores. I’d suggest watching Enterprise at 8pm, vamping until 11pm, then catching Humanzee on Discovery at 11pm, and getting up early (or setting the machine) for the Bijani twins’ story at 5am on Discovery Health. Nobody said finding good television was easy, but you’ll thank me in the morning!


For more information on the amazing Oliver, check out this surprising straight report from the often way out-there Rotten.com.

The whole story of Oliver in his retirement can be explored in this great article from a Bigfoot investigation site.

Another great account of Oliver's life, including lots on the DNA evidence, can be found here.

You'll end up with a great deal of empathy for Oliver after reading this often sad version of his story.

If you can ever find it -- I haven't seen it in years -- the BBC did a fascinating mini in 1988 entitled First Born, starring Charles Dance, about a scientist monkeying about with a human/gorilla hybrid experiment.