Chimeric Monkey Pictures: Primates Developed From Stem Cells Of Multiple Embryos (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Because we know you'll ask: no, you can't have one.

Hex, Roku and Chimero, the insanely cute rhesus monkeys pictured here, are the world's first chimeric primates -- monkeys developed from a mix of genes from several parent monkeys rather than just two.

Scientists in Oregon last week announced their birth.

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, an associate scientist in the Oregon National Primate Research Center and an author of the research, called it an "important development" that "will impact our understanding of stem cells and their future potential in regenerative medicine."

He added, "Stem cell therapies hold great promise for replacing damaged nerve cells in those who have been paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury or for example, in replacing dopamine-producing cells in Parkinson's patients who lose these brain cells resulting in disease."

LOOK: World's First Chimeric Monkeys:

Click here to read more about chimeric monkeys.

Comments

[Igor Purlantov]

01:52 PM on 01/13/2012

Hex, Roku and Chimero are indeed adorable. Wishing them many happy years ahead.

www.igor-purlantov.org

[trishamine]

11:30 PM on 01/12/2012

Those baby monkeys are too cute for words, they ae adorable.

[muguet81]

07:43 PM on 01/12/2012

does this mean gay couples could have their own babies?

[joe1964]

03:37 PM on 01/20/2012

So far it's still science fiction, but hopefully, someday...

[MothballViking]

10:03 AM on 01/12/2012

"Insanely cute monkeys..." This is how a language gets diluted and words lose their meaning.

On another note, those monkeys look a little bit worried, and so they should. They're monkeys. In a lab.

[Karen StovallStringer]

10:48 PM on 01/15/2012

Too true for all three points. What would drive someone to refer to these chimeric monkeys as "insanely cute?" Insanely, as used here, is an adjective and should define the noun - monkeys. Insanely is not an appropriate adjective in this instance. I am at a loss to even give an example of a sentence where it would be appropriate. Maybe, "Maria was insanely jeolous of Lisa's opulent life style." However, there are many worse blunders of this nature on HuffPost Maybe if I sleep on it I can come up with something better. Night. :) I'm retiring as HP's grammar police.

[Sebastin Emmanuel Mata]

03:03 PM on 01/25/2012

While I agree with the misuse of the word "insanely," your point of it being an adjective is grossly incorrect. It is an adverb, and as such it can modify "cute," and is not a grammatical error.

[Jess Masonic]

12:29 PM on 01/11/2012

toooooooooooooooo cute!!! i want one!

[polishbroadcast]

07:00 PM on 01/10/2012

I will adopt them and do endless belly-rubbing and cuddling experiments on them.

[jikannodensetsu]

12:57 AM on 01/11/2012

If there was a "Like" button, I'd be pressing it right now.

[itsjules]

05:11 AM on 01/11/2012

There's a "Favorite" button, which I just pressed, lol!

[katefromthecouncilestate]

05:12 PM on 01/10/2012

The future of these gorgeously beautiful creatures is likely to be short, filled with agony, deprivation and a when they have served all the usefulness that can be wrung from their little bodies, they will be killed in the cheapest manner and thrown in the garbage. Don't let the photo of the teddy bear and fluffy towels fool you. When the PR department has finished making use of this story, the photographer will be sent home and these little creatures will be scrambling backwards and forwards in a neurotic despair in their metal cages and teddy bears will be a distant memory in between excruciating "medical" experiments.

[MothballViking]

10:05 AM on 01/12/2012

You just bagged your 6th fan.

[Adelheide]

10:34 AM on 01/12/2012

As I was looking at the photos, thinking how tiny, helpless, adorable and appealing they are, looking at the expression on their faces and in their eyes, I was wondering, "But what is going to become of them?" I fear, katefromthecouncilestate, to whom this is a direct reply, and MothballViking who worte "...those monkeys look a little bit worried, and so they should. They're monkeys. In a lab[.]" that both of you are right. And since these scientists CREATED their lives, I am sure that will impact their view of their right to USE their lives. After all, it will be for SCIENCE. Adelheide

[katefromthecouncilestate]

12:35 PM on 01/12/2012

Yes, I'm sure there will be those who take that view; that these creatures are solely resources of the company;,to be used in whatever way best serves the company, regardless of the suffering experienced by these creatures. I'd also wager a fiver that those who are of that belief are more likely to also adopt that same attitude towards their own children- namely that they, the parents, effectively created the life of the children and as therefore the children are solely the resources of the parents, to be used in whatever way best serves the ends of the parents, regardless of the suffering experienced by the children. It never fails to disappoint me that whilst in the realm of criminology, there is a recognition of the correlation between animal abuse, domestic abuse and child abuse and yet, when the animal abuse is veneered with the motivation of being "for a higher purpose" (i.e sacrifices for the altar of Science....or profit for shareholders) then concerns are wavered. I've seen documentaries of what goes on at the hands of these "scientists" (and the majority of the lab workers are in fact animal technicians for which the only criteria to be a successful applicant is actually turning up to the interview and being able to grunt their own name) and I've seen the sadistic relish with which they wield the most horrific and cruel power over animals. Personally, I'd have everyone of them on the social services watch list.

[Laurie Peters]

04:46 PM on 01/10/2012

PLANET OF THE APES HERE WE COME!!!!

[Suemoni]

03:41 PM on 01/10/2012

These babies are adorable however I have a BIG problem if they were only created to be used as experiments. I know as humans we seek cures and answersfor all types of illness/disease/disabilities etc. But I am truly sick of helpless animals being created and used for experimental purposes. Just like human beings these animals have feelings, they hurt and bleed like humans and I wish these scientific geniouses would find new ways to test there experiments. I know folks on here will have their own oppinions regarding this issue. I respect all oppinions however Do Not waste your time trashing my oppinion cause I Do Not read read my responses from HP posters..

[blueplano]

02:49 PM on 01/10/2012

You're flagged.

[brooklyncitizen]

02:22 PM on 01/10/2012

Disturbing.

[pudgepops]

10:56 AM on 01/10/2012

Insanely cute? I'd say heartbreaking. These babies will never know their mother, have multiple genetic parents, and are destined to a life of being used in endless experiments ... if they even survive that long. The so-called scientists decline to even discuss how many other babies were born not so cute, but rather deformed or dead or were "euthanized" because of how they emerged. They decline to discuss how many surrogate mothers died in trying to cope with these unnatural pregnancies. (In both cases, the answer is many.) We do not make ourselves healthier and happier by inflicting such suffering on unconsenting animals.

[Ken-Nard Wright]

01:14 PM on 01/10/2012

sheesh... thanks for bringing us down!
just kidding. You make a very good point.

[angelcakesinc]

10:49 PM on 01/10/2012

Aaaand if these experiments lead to cures for things that were once thought incurable?

[pudgepops]

09:51 AM on 01/11/2012

Are you saying that if something might be good for you and me, then anything goes? That it makes no difference how much injury, sickness or suffering we cause to someone else as long as it's in our own interest? Where do you draw the line? (No need to reply here ... you just need to answer it for yourself ... our individual answers to this tell us what we include in what Albert Einstien called our "circle of compassion", or how much of life we consider, in our own way, to be sacred.)

[mike711l]

04:58 AM on 01/10/2012

Remember the old Troll dolls? These cute little suckers have the same faces!

[brittanylynn3]

04:55 AM on 01/10/2012

These are not the "world's first chimeric primates"; they are the world's first successfully-engineered-in-a-lab chimeric primates.

[gunnerfan5]

10:41 AM on 01/10/2012

What other chimeric primates have there been? Genuinely curious.

[Warren On]

02:18 PM on 01/10/2012

I didn't know about chimeras before reading this article, so I decided to consult google. And I found that yeah chimeras can occur naturally, that is if an embryo absorbs cells from its twin. Even human chimeras have been reported, according to that link: http://boingboing.net/2009/05/01/the-mind-blowing-wor.html

[gunnerfan5]

10:46 AM on 01/10/2012

My question was answered by rickwasmith below. And I found this article about it. Amazing. I had no idea that could happen in the wild.

http://www.pnas.org/content/104/15/6278.full

[brittanylynn3]

12:29 PM on 01/10/2012

Awesome! I'm not that knowledgable about them either. My comment was based on the fact that human chimera's, despite being rare, occur naturally.

His example is definately better though.

[rickwasmith]

12:02 AM on 01/10/2012

Actually, the callitrichids (marmosets and tamarins) are chimeric primates in nature. Multiple males mate with a single female, fertilizing offspring in each of two uteri. Early in embryonic development, the zygotes exchange cells so that the resulting offspring are a chimera of three parents (one mother and two fathers). It's one of the coolest things in primatology.