June 28th, 2015 , 06:12 pm

At dymontiger in Male Gorilla Drives Japanese Girls Crazy, I read that a gorilla named Shabani has become a favorite of visitors to the Higashiyama Zoo in Japan. Thanks to the admiring girls, the animal has become a social media star. Internet users proclaimed Shabani "the most beautiful gorilla in the world."

In this regard, I remembered the book by Oleg Shishkin " Red Frankenstein. Secret experiments of the Kremlin". In the 20s of the 20th century, secret experiments were carried out in the USSR on crossing a monkey with a man "to clarify the question of the origin of man."

In Africa, cases, although rare, of rape of native women by gorillas, apparently took place. Victims of such violence usually died in the arms of monkeys and, at autopsy, they invariably found themselves crushed in the chest. Cases of rape of African women by chimpanzee monkeys also occurred, but they did not end in death. True, women raped by monkeys were considered defiled. Such women were treated as pariahs, socially dead and usually disappeared without a trace.

Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanov in early 1927 inseminated three female chimpanzees with human sperm. This daring experiment ended in complete failure. One monkey died and two never got pregnant.

“The mission of the professor is very important, yes!,” they wrote in Russian Vremya in Paris on July 6, 1927. - Since the ten-year experience of the Sovietization of Russia does not give positive results, the Bolsheviks decided to create a new “Soviet race”. Which one are you asking? - A new race capable of accepting and firmly assimilating communist ideas. Half people, half apes."

But the failure of the experiment did not discourage the stubborn and stubborn biologist. He took 15 monkeys with him and left with them for Sukhumi. From 1927 until his death in 1932, Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was engaged in his experiments. All of them are covered with an impenetrable veil of secrecy. It is only known that our biologist attracted female volunteers. Disappointed in female chimpanzees, the scientist decided to test the strength of human organisms. Women had to become pregnant by means of artificial insemination from male monkeys.

And here's the most amazing thing: Professor Ivanov had no shortage of surrogate mothers ready to endure a hybrid baby. Moreover, women strove to work disinterestedly for the benefit of Soviet science.

What does it say? That at least some women have sex with huge monster apes. Maybe even secretly dream of something like that.

The popular theme of the love of a man and a monkey gave rise to a film about King Kong, where the feelings of the heroes of this biodrama are painted only platonically. But the heroine of Jessica Lange still exclaims in despair: “Come on, Kong, don’t even think about it! We won't get anything. Do not you see?"

Well, if instead of a gorilla, imagine a tall guy with a similar physique? Wouldn't he turn the heads of many girls? After all, girls have a stereotype since childhood that a guy should be taller and stronger. Essentially, all girls like tall guys, and survey, girls explain this by the fact that they want to feel small and defenseless. They want to feel behind her husband, like behind a stone wall". Doesn't a gorilla named Shabani correspond to these parameters? With him, for sure, like behind a stone wall!

Most likely, girls' admiration for gorillas is an unconscious protest against Japanese "kawaii boys".

Well, what kind of "man" is this?! Here is Shabani - a real "man"! Demonstrating their admiration for the gorilla, Japanese girls, as it were, show which they need men. Something similar was observed during the decline of the Roman Empire: then young Roman women, fed up with the refined fruits of civilization, admired the German barbarians - huge, shaggy savages.

Get pregnant by monkeys

The Department of Defense has repeatedly asked for help from scientists studying the habits of monkeys. After all, the genetic code of primates is only less than one percent different from the genetic code of humans. This means that the results of experiments on monkeys are also valid for people, the military reasoned. So laboratories for the study of monkeys appeared in the country. They conducted research for military purposes. And in Sukhumi there was even an institute created for crossing a man with a monkey.

Lunacharsky approved crossing

After the death of Lenin in 1924, the public was agitated - the leader died of premature aging. Such was the official verdict of Lenin's personal doctor, Dr. Rozanov, who was seriously involved in the problems of rejuvenating the party elite. A year later, Rozanov submitted a paper to Stalin, which stated that he needed two monkeys to transplant the gonads to people. In the event of a successful outcome of the experiment, he will be able to extend the years of life of the entire communist elite.

At the same time, in the south of the country, Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov came up with the idea of ​​crossing a man with a monkey. For several years he cherished this dream, but the tsarist regime opposed the immoral experiment. The coming to power of the Bolsheviks untied his hands. He outlined his ideas in a letter to Lunacharsky:

“From the first steps of my scientific activity, I tried to carry out the experiments of crossing humans and monkeys. At one time, I negotiated with the former owners of famous zoos ... However, the fear of the Holy Synod turned out to be stronger than the desire to meet this undertaking ... At the moment, only money is missing to set up these experiments.

Ivanov asks to allocate 15 thousand dollars to him and send him to Africa to conduct the first experiments on crossing people with monkeys.

Pygmies got pregnant by gorillas?

In the summer of 1926, the professor and his assistants left for Guinea, where the station of the Pasteur Institute was based. The scientist hoped to study the circumstances of the rape of black women by gorillas, and if he was lucky, then find possible offspring. But - alas! No matter how hard the professor tried, there was not a single creature in the jungle that somehow resembled a cross between a gorilla and a man.

Then Ivanov secretly decided to artificially inseminate native women who came to see Russian doctors. Luckily, local men found out about it. They simply forbade their wives and daughters to seek help from white doctors. Ivanov had only one thing left to do - to write out pygmies from Gabon, who, for a small gastronomic reward, were ready to become pregnant from male gorillas.

No one was born to pygmies, but female chimpanzees managed to get pregnant from pygmies! The delighted professor put the monkeys on a ship and sent them to Russia. But on the way to the USSR they died.

A special commission was set up in Moscow to investigate this case. Ivanov was accused of lowering the honor of a Soviet doctor when he tried to secretly impregnate Guinean women. Two months later, the entire public was discussing the failure of the operation. Ivanov was denied further funding for expeditions. All that the professor could count on was to continue the experiment in the monkey nursery in Sukhumi, which was built specifically for the artificial mating of monkeys with humans.

"We want to live with monkeys"

Ivanov's ideas are becoming very popular in Sukhumi. People from all over the world come to him, ready to take part in the experiment. From that moment on, Ivanov has no end to sperm donors and even those who are ready to live with monkeys as a husband or wife. Soviet people explained their strange desires to have offspring from gorillas as follows: “We want to serve science without demanding payment, for the sake of the USSR and the enlightenment of fellow citizens prone to religious ignorance.”

The professor paid with his life

But in 1927, the professor nevertheless decided to move with his entire laboratory to West Africa to continue the experiment he had begun in Guinea. From Africa, he wrote to the USSR: “The work is in full swing. Not everything turns out as planned, but there is no time to lose heart ... It is necessary not only to increase the number of experiments on artificial insemination of chimpanzees and gorillas with human sperm, but also to again conduct experiments on backcrossing. A hybrid man, which corresponds to anthropoids, grows faster from birth than a normal one, gains incredible strength by the age of three or four, is much less sensitive to pain, illegible in food ... The possibilities of use are endless - from working in damp faces to soldiering.

Because of the departure of Ivanov, Stalin was in shock! The self-satisfied professor, contrary to his wishes, left Russia and continues the experiment! By order of the leader of the NKVD, he recalled the professor to the USSR, allegedly for negotiations on the continuation of the experiment. At the railway station in Moscow, Ivanov was arrested and taken to the Lubyanka. He received 5 years in the camps and died on March 20, 1932 from atherosclerosis in the camp. At the same time, experiments on mating a person with a monkey were stopped at the Sukhumi Institute.

The fate of the nursery in Sukhumi

The last happy days of the Sukhumi nursery survived in the eighties. During the Georgian-Abkhaz war, most of the monkeys became victims of gunfights. Sukhumi residents say that in the early 1990s, a macaque jumping down the street with a cub clinging to its stomach was as common here as the sounds of gunshots. Pets that fled from the enclosures were shot: it was known that doctors experimented on monkeys, tested new drugs, infecting them with various diseases beforehand. There were also rumors in the city that bacteriological weapons were being tested on the unfortunate animals.

Could the experiment have gone well?

Today, any person on the offer to cross a monkey and a person will answer that this is impossible! Of course, there are closely related biological species that can interbreed. For example, from the connection of a horse with a donkey, a mule will be born. And such a species as a man cannot interbreed even with a closely related monkey.

Monkeys are indeed the closest creatures to us in terms of genotype, - Leonid Firsov, professor at the Pavlov Institute, said in an interview with a Smena correspondent. - For many years, science has studied the physiology of women in monkeys - in monkeys, the only ones among the animal world, the monthly cycle coincides with the female one. And in male monkeys, impotence occurs from stress. But this does not mean at all that a monkey can be crossed with a man! Ivanov's experiments were initially doomed to failure.

By the way, the professor is sure that people are descended from monkeys who lived a hundred million years ago. The apes of that period bore little resemblance to their descendants, which we now see in zoos.

Monkeys helped the military

Professor Leonid Firsov is rightfully considered the most competent person on Earth who studies monkeys. In 1972, he managed to land several monkeys on the island to test their survival in isolation from the world.

The military became seriously interested in my experiment, - Leonid Salikovich recalls. - I needed to find out what kind of grass in the forest the monkeys would eat so as not to die of hunger. We carefully studied these edible plants and transmitted the information received to the military.

On the island, the monkeys first of all began to check whether there were any eggs or chicks left in the nests, then they began to catch mice and small predators. Then it was the turn of the crows. When meat and game were running out, the monkeys began to diet food. For many months, the monkeys ate leaves, shoots, the bast part of the bark, common cornflower, forest bush and female kochedyzhnik.
After the end of the expedition, scientists listed the names of plants to the military elite that could make up the full nutrition of Russian soldiers. Especially for them, booklets were issued, in which there were images and names of edible plants for the Soviet Army.

By the way, Leonid Salikovich is sure that the program of the First Channel "The Last Hero" was mostly copied from his popular science film about the island of monkeys near Pskov - "Monkey Island".

Monkeys reconciled the astronauts

Cosmos was also interested in experiments on monkeys.

American astronauts asked for help as often as Russian cosmonauts, Firsov admits. - After the death of the monkey in space, the Americans decided to stop experiments on primates. But in the USSR, research was in full swing. The last time the astronauts asked to test the composition of five drugs on monkeys. The fact is that in flight, astronauts often experienced psychological friction. This could seriously interfere with work. Therefore, it was necessary to find a medicine that would smooth out the psychological problems of the astronauts.

Monkey adopted by Fidel Castro

In 1983, Soviet scientists decided to present a gift for Chekist Day to Secretary General Yuri Andropov. Sukhumi monkeys Abrek and Bion spent five days in space and landed in the Kustanai steppes. Two years later, their relatives, Verny and Proud, flew into space for seven days. The third to fly in 1987 were Drema and Erosha, already for 14 days. Upon his return, Sandy was adopted by the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, guaranteeing him honor and respect on the Island of Freedom. Then there were three more 14-day flights: in 1989 (Zhakonya and Zabiyaka), in 1992 (Ivasha and Krosh) and in 1996 (Multik and Lapik). And then the Russian treasury ran out of money for the program.

Ready to fly

In Star City, along with three detachments of astronauts, there is a fully staffed detachment of monkeys, ready to take off at any moment. The rights of macaques are respected by the Commission on Biomedical Ethics, which signs the contract for them. Scientists promise that after the return of animals to Earth, they will be created conditions for procreation. Since only males are in the squad, the commission promises to match them with wives of their choice and ensure respect among the pack.

Mandatory conditions for astronaut monkeys are impeccable health and excellent reaction.

Monkey rights activists

After the death of the American monkey in space, not only the Americans refused to experiment on them. In the UK, a scandal is in full swing over plans to build a laboratory in which thousands of monkeys will be exterminated. Scientists have come up with a cure that will save humanity from Parkinson's disease, and now it needs to be tested. Animal rights activists do not share the scientists' optimism. They believe that the laboratory will turn into a slaughterhouse. Now the police fear that the "greens" will organize a pogrom similar to the events of 2001. Then the "greens" beat the director of the Institute of Primates with baseball bats, and employees of banks that gave money for research were repeatedly sent letters with death threats. This forced the banks to refuse to finance the project.

People solder monkeys

In 1994, Leonid Firsov continued his research on monkeys. Now already in TsPKiO. Since then, every year for two or three months a group of monkeys has been settled on Elagin Island, on the example of which the study of the influence of the metropolis on the psychology of monkeys, and therefore humans, is in full swing.

The initial conclusions are as follows: complete freedom makes monkeys uncontrollable. In just a few months, the primates become practically wild and indulge in all serious.

Until now, stories are remembered about how monkeys snatched bags, umbrellas and mobile phones from people who moored to the shore on boats. Sometimes the monkeys used their teeth, but the guards kept up in time.

They also smoke!

In a couple of months, the monkeys learned to smoke, eat chips and drink beer, which was brought to the island by visitors on catamarans and boats. Zookeepers were only surprised: “It is easier to work with monkeys than to explain to people that monkeys cannot be soldered!” In general, people and monkeys found a common language!

Vera KHOKHALEVSKY

Photo by Zamir Usmanov

Dian Fossey is a legend of our time. This determined and fearless explorer spent 18 years studying mountain gorillas in the rainforests of Rwanda, fighting poachers alone. She, like no one else, knew what difficulties these animals faced, for which people became the most dangerous enemies.

Dian Fossey was born in San Francisco (California, USA). She is a doctor by training, although later, in 1974, she received the title of Doctor of Science in zoology (University of Cambridge). In 1963 During a tourist trip to Africa that changed her hobbies, priorities and her whole life, she met the famous zoologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey, who at that time was engaged in the conservation of mountain gorillas as a species. Their numbers were declining ominously, threatening to become irreversibly small and save gorillas only in zoos. Later, he invited her to study the behavior of mountain gorillas in the tropical forests of the Virunga massif, which is at the junction of Rwanda and Uganda. Here, Dian Fossey studied the behavior of mountain gorillas for 18 years. She was an active conservationist and fought against poaching in the Virunga National Park. In 1975, she became the subject of the National Geographic Society film In Search of the Giant Apes (1975). But unfortunately, there are so few shots with Dian Fossey! Who knew that soon her life would be tragically cut short!

In 1980, there were only 250 mountain gorillas left on Earth. Unpredictable and funny, smart and strong, the gorillas revealed their incredible secrets to Diane and the whole world, which helped us understand their customs and habits. To do this, Diane imitated their behavior, gestures, moved near the herd, relying on hand and looked at them furtively, avoiding the manner of people directly and importunately imposing their company. Diane knew that there was not a single case of a gorilla attacking a person, and threatening gestures, beating on the chest and aggressive facial expressions were just attempts to frighten the enemy.

Fossey's research has proven that gorillas, although not the closest relatives of humans, have non-survival behavioral skills; they have their own culture. Fossey wrote a book about her life with gorillas, Gorillas in the Mist. The same name was given to the film made after the murder of this extraordinary, brave woman. In memory of Dian Fossey, a colleague, a well-known animal psychologist and traveler, Farley Mowat, the author of the well-known book "Don't Cry, Wolves" and other books about his travels in northern Canada, dedicated his book about her.

Movie"Gorillas in the Mist" with Sigourney Weaver in Ch. role was released in 1988. and the actress was nominated for an Oscar. Her game makes an indelible impression, because for the role she had to get acquainted not only with the problem of protecting reserves, mastering life in the jungle, but also making contact with gorillas in the same way as Dian Fossey herself. The actress mastered the rules of contact with wildlife with endless patience and learned to communicate with gorillas of all ages. When you look at the frames of the film, you perceive it not as part of the plot, an illustration for the book. but as the real life of a researcher, a woman who has devoted herself to these smart and funny animals defenseless against evil.

But since the tragic death of an outstanding researcher and protector of gorillas, almost nothing has changed - primates are still dying through the fault of people, and some people still believe in the aggressiveness of gorillas and their tendency to kidnap women and children. Meanwhile, modern zoopsychologists argue that gorillas have the rudiments of thinking, a sense of humor and are able to teach each other the language.

The appearance of a gorilla can inspire fear in any unprepared person - a huge “monster” weighs up to 200 kg (in captivity, some get fat up to 375), two meters tall, hair and skin are “demonic” black, the expression of the “face” is ferocious (say, the faces of orangutans seem much more pretty), the eyes are almost human ...

Legends of the "black devil" wandered from Africa for many years to the pages of adventure books. The Africans believed that if they accidentally wandered into the territory of gorillas, a black hand would appear from the thickets, drag the loser up a tree ... and only a death cry would announce the jungle. The image of just such a “black devil” is written in the fairy tale “Tarzan” by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950), where all living creatures, except for the elephant Tantor, were afraid of the leader of the gorilla-like monkeys. A smart but vicious male even beat his wives and could accidentally cripple a cub.

For humans, the history of gorillas only began in 1847, when the American missionary Thomas Savage (1804–1880) met them in Gabon. Only one species of gorilla (Gorilla) is known with three subspecies - eastern mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei), western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla manyema). This is currently generally accepted, but not the only classification.

Mountain gorillas are the largest apes of the anthropoid family and the rarest - there are about 723 individuals in total. This is more than in the years of Dian Fossey's life, but still not enough to prevent extinction - any catastrophe (an outbreak of a disease, a change in the political situation and a weakening of the protection of reserves) can reduce the number of mountain gorillas on the Virunga volcano and in other parks to zero.

Who hasn't read or at least heard of Dian Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist? The brave researcher has managed to draw attention to the problems of primates, and it seems that it is thanks to Diane that gorillas have not yet disappeared from the face of the earth.

For many years, Diane spent side by side with gorillas in their natural habitat. Along with another well-known gorilla specialist, George Beals Schaller, she was able to prove that the "black devil" is one of the most non-aggressive primates. It turned out that the legendary beating of oneself in the chest with fists does not at all mean “now I will tear everyone to shreds”! This is just an element of "wild dances" with which gorillas try to scare off the enemy. The footage where the baby gorilla copies the behavior of an adult male is very curious, learning the gestures of threat.

Any person living in Uganda, Rwanda, Congo or dreaming of meeting gorillas should master the science of monkey behavior. It is no coincidence that the natives ridicule their fellow tribesmen bitten by a gorilla on the buttocks - this means that they are scared. It's hard not to give a fight when a huge black carcass rushes at you, yelling and roaring at the same time. However, the surest way to smooth the situation is to simply stand still with your eyes downcast or fall head first to the ground. Gorillas are seriously ready to beat a person (but not kill) only if he tries to catch cubs or run away.

It is curious that at the beginning of the last century in Europe, a young man could be challenged to a duel only for a daring look - they say, if he stared, then he was impudent and a scoundrel. Similarly, gorillas take the direct gaze of a human or another gorilla as a challenge.

In accordance with their laws of ethics, gorillas expect something similar from humans. But alas, good for gorillas can only be expected from scientists and conservation enthusiasts. Here is how the scientist and traveler Bernhard Grzimek describes the behavior of gorillas in a collision with a person: "When local hunters manage to shoot the leader of the pack, the females, who are confused without him, are finished off simply with clubs, and they often do not even try to escape. It is terrible to watch how these unfortunate creatures, under a hail of blows, only cover their heads with their hands ... and then fall to the ground in a pose of submission, waiting for the mercy that usually follows from their own kind.

Black devil? Are the accents correct? Gorillas don't attack people with clubs, they don't pack to kill women, they don't catch children on steaks...

Do gorillas kidnap women?

Although gorillas are our closest relatives, they still stand somewhat further from humans than chimpanzees. This is frustrating, because some chimpanzees (despite all my sympathy for them) are rapists and fratricides, able to wring the neck of another monkey, not to mention turtledoves or squirrels, or even bite off the nose of a human child. But gorillas are vegetarians and phlegmatic, often the silver-backed leader does not pay any attention to young males mating with his "wives". Absorbed in the search for leaves and fruits, families of gorillas (an adult male silverback, several females and a couple of young males) sometimes wander into banana plantations. Is the male capable of dragging a beautiful banana picker with him? This question has long worried people, which has been embodied in numerous variations on the theme of "King Kong".

A woman who is squeezed by huge strong hairy hands is not only scary, but also exciting, which is why such legends are popular. “Desire provokes them to many things. Whatever the fear of a man, a preoccupied male will no doubt attack a lonely woman and drag her into the forest ... ”, suggested Bernard Euvelmans, a well-known Belgian researcher of “unseen animals”, the “father” of cryptozoology.

You can fantasize as much as you want about gorillas cohabiting with women, but male gorillas don't tend to attack females, so they can't do the same trick with women. Moreover, if a gorilla is raised in a human society from childhood, it really does fall in love with someone from Homo sapiens from time to time, but the maximum it goes for is strong hugs. Since the gorilla is not always able to control its strength, then, of course, with such a manifestation of feelings, a person may suffer. In nature, the contacts of a person who came to get acquainted and observe, and gorillas are much more touching.

Dian Fossey could tell us a lot more about the relationship between gorillas and women, but her life was cut short on December 26, 1985. Diane was hacked with a machete, and there is still a lot of mystery in this murder - at first her servant was accused, and later suspicion fell on one of the organizers of the genocide in Rwanda, who had connections with poachers. Be that as it may, here are genuine footage with the results of the "work" of poachers. Dian Fossey finds out about the death of her pets.

In 1977, Diane's favorite gorillas - Digit, Lee, Macho - fell from the hands of poachers ... Digit's head and hands, intended for making ashtrays, were sold for twenty dollars. Primate prices have gone up these days - a live baby sells for $8,000, a gorilla or chimpanzee blood steak for $400, although at times people simply kill and eat gorillas on the spot.

The leader and the females are ready to protect the cubs to the last, so while catching one gorilla, the whole family is killed. Such cases were noted in 2007 (seven mountain gorillas were killed in the Virunga reserve), despite strict conservation measures and support from the Dian Fossey Foundation and other conservation organizations.

90 years ago, a Soviet biologist went to Africa to cross a monkey with a man

In February 1926, 90 years ago, Soviet biologist Ilya Ivanov was sent to Africa to artificially inseminate female chimpanzees with human seed. About how the scientist staged his famous experiments and what does Shostakovich's opera have to do with it.

“I would like to make an offer to you. I learned from the newspapers that you undertook experiments in the artificial insemination of monkeys with human sperm, but the experiments were unsuccessful. This problem has interested me for a long time. My request: take me as an experiment.

I beg you, do not refuse me. I will gladly comply with all requirements related to the experience. I am confident in the possibility of fertilization.

As a last resort, if you refuse, then I ask you to write me the address of any of the foreign zoologists, ”biologist Ilya Ivanov received such a letter from a resident of Leningrad in 1928. This message is not the only one of its kind: having learned that a scientist is trying to cross a man with a monkey, women from all over the Soviet Union wanted to participate in an unprecedented experiment.

To a modern person, Ilya Ivanov may seem crazy, obsessed with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating some kind of mutant. In fact, the scientist, who was considered the greatest specialist in the field of artificial insemination of animals, began breeding hybrids of a mouse and a rat, a mouse and a guinea pig, a zebra and a donkey, an antelope and a cow as early as 1899. Inspired by success, the biologist suggested that it was possible to create a hybrid of man and monkey with the help of artificial insemination.

Ivanov spoke about this during his speech before the World Congress of Zoologists in the Austrian city of Graz in 1910.

Unacceptability of experiments

In 1925 Nikolay Gorbunov, rector of the Moscow Higher Technical School named after N.E. Bauman, became interested in Ivanov's ideas. He believed that the created hybrid would be of "important scientific importance" and would draw the attention of all countries to the Soviet Union. Ivanov himself repeatedly stated that

in the West they want to cross a man with a monkey, but they are afraid to conduct such experiments "because of the unacceptability of experiments from the point of view of generally accepted morality and religion."

By the way, the Soviet biologist admitted that he was not the first to have the idea to create an unprecedented hybrid. Ilya Ivanov was well aware that back in 1908, the Dutch naturalist Bernelot Muns claimed that it was possible to set up experiments on the insemination of gorillas and chimpanzees with human sperm. Muns even raised money for an expedition to the French Congo (where the coveted crossing was to take place), and also published a thematic brochure “Truth. Experimental research on the origin of man. According to the Dutchman, monkeys are best crossed with blacks, in his opinion, representatives of the "lower" race.

How the monkeys were stunned

In the fall of 1925, Nikolai Gorbunov got the Academy of Sciences to allocate $10,000 for Ilya Ivanov's experiments in Africa. In February of the following year, the biologist went on a business trip to Kindia, the third largest city in French Guinea. Shortly after arriving, Ivanov learned that only pre-pubescent chimpanzees were at the station.

Then the scientist entered into correspondence with the governor of Guinea and received permission to conduct experiments in Conakry, the administrative center of the country.

The biologist went to Conakry with his son Ilya, who wanted to help his father in experiments. Ivanov Sr. personally oversaw the capture of adult monkeys. “The methods of catching chimpanzees were outright rude,” writes documentarian Oleg Shishkin. At night, the population of the hunting village tracked down the herd of monkeys. Then, armed with pitchforks and rakes, the natives drove the chimpanzee up a lonely tree and made a fire around. After the chimpanzee, seeing no other way out, rushed down, the Africans ran up to him and with the help of clubs inflicted serious blows. The stunned and crippled animal could not resist the hunters who tied its limbs to two poles. These poles were carried on their shoulders by four Africans.

Experiment failed

In February 1927, Ivanov conducted an experiment on the artificial insemination of two female chimpanzees with semen from unknown human donors. And in the summer he carried out the insemination of another monkey named Black.

None of the three cases resulted in pregnancy.

The biologist did not lose hope, now he proposed to impregnate female volunteers with the sperm of a male chimpanzee. However, the scientist's colleagues did not meet this idea with enthusiasm. “All around, except for obvious confusion and even a hooligan attitude, you rarely see at least a tolerant attitude towards my unusual searches,” Ivanov wrote in 1927. However, I do not give up and, spitting on the antics of our "elders" and their sycophants, I continue to seek the opportunity to bring the experiments I have begun to a more solid number and get an answer to the questions posed. I am negotiating and I hope to get support where, if there is no academic cap on my head, there is common sense and the absence of professional intolerance.”

Ivanov's plans were not destined to come true, soon the scientist was subjected to political criticism and exiled to Alma-Ata, where he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

"It's stuffy for me, it's stuffy, it's stuffy under the skin of the beast"

The experiments of the Soviet biologist found a cultural embodiment, in particular, the famous composer Dmitry Shostakovich began to write the opera "Orango", the main character of which was a hybrid of a man and a monkey. By the way, Shostakovich was personally acquainted with Ivanov and even visited his scientific station in Sukhumi in 1929, a few years before the scientist's death.

As conceived by the composer, the half-man, half-monkey appeared as a result of a bold biological experiment. But the hero was not kept in the laboratory: he was released, took up journalism, took part in the First World War, got married and even tried himself as a spy.

“Yawn, Orango!”, “It’s stuffy for me, it’s stuffy, it’s stuffy under the skin of the beast”, “Nastya dances and calms Orango” – this is how the episodes of the opera should have been called.

On August 10, 2004, the Empire State Building went out of its lights for a quarter of an hour. After all, two days before, on August 8, the actress Fay Ray (1907-2004) left the world.

The whole world knows her as the first "Kong girl". The shadow of the giant monkey completely overshadowed the original actress, who initially raged against such popularity, but subsequently came to terms with her legendary status.

The fate of Faye Wray is evidence of the roulette system of the Hollywood studio of those years. Talent and efficiency meant much less in that system than luck.

Faye began to storm the Hollywood Olympus at the age of twelve. Luck smiled at her eight years later, when she managed to conclude a contract with Paramount. In 1928, Fay Wray played the title role in the film The Wedding March by the great Erich von Stroheim.

WITH STROGAME IN THE "WEDDING MARCH"

Stroheim always sought to fulfill his creative desires, which is why his paintings had a difficult fate. "Wedding March" he thought over four hours long. The producers forced the film to be cut into two parts. The second - "Honeymoon" - is considered hopelessly lost. And the first was held by the audience without much success, although, in my opinion, this melodrama is magnificent.

One way or another, Fay Rei was afloat, moreover, she managed to break the sound barrier.

The fart continued with the transition to the RKO studio, where they began to systematically make the queen of horror films from Faye. In the films "Doctor X", "The Most Dangerous Game", "Vampire Bat", "The Secret of the Wax Museum" Fay played a broken girl who is in danger.

"SCREAM QUEEN" IN "MYSTERY OF WAX MUSEUM"

In terms of the production of horror films, RKO had a competitor, the Universal studio, which was always ahead. At Universal, serial heroes were created - Frankenstein, Dracula, the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man. This made production easier and emptied the wallets of the audience without much advertising - they went to the promoted hero.

The chance to outdo Universal came to RKO with the idea of ​​producer Marion Cooper to make a film about a huge monkey. The role of "Kong Girl" was offered to Fay Wray. At the same time, Cooper promised her the role vaguely, speaking of the most enormous and terrible hero in Hollywood. The heart of the actress skipped a beat, she decided that she was tipped to be a partner to Clark Gable.

But I had to be content with the gorilla, repainted from a brunette to a blonde, not ten weeks, but ten months, which were discussed in the contract, were filmed.

King Kong became a sensation. But the studio, intoxicated by the smell of big money, hurried to release a hopeless sequel to Son of Kong, where Fay Ray was not invited. The picture failed at the box office so powerfully that the planned franchise was frozen for a long time.

And Fay Ray plunged into a stream of unremarkable pictures, which was not comme il faut after filming in the legendary one.

HOWEVER, IN THE FILM "VIVA, VILIA!" RAY WAS GOOD

In 1942, she made the decision to leave cinema to focus on her family life with Robert Riskin, the legendary screenwriter and Frank Capra's regular collaborator.

The illness of her husband forced Fay Ray to return to the cinema in 1953, but the moment was irretrievably lost - a woman under half a dozen was not given the main roles.

In 1970, Ray marries a neurosurgeon who had been the late Riskin's physician for a long time. Live in peace and enjoyment.

In 2004, he withstands the pressure of Peter Jackson, who wanted to shoot Ray in a new version of King Kong.

Two days later, the lights of the Empire State Building were extinguished for a quarter of an hour.

RAY LOVED EMPIRE TOO...