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could have worked. " The scientists hypothesise that interbreeding between our ancestral humans and early chimps created a third, infertile 'hybrid' species, the human equivalent of a mule, the infertile offspring of a horse and donkey. Though incapable of breeding among its own, the hybrid is believed to have survived by mating with its parent human or chimp species, before the two separated to follow the two distinct evolutionary paths that led to modern humans and chimps. " The New York Times more adroitly reasoned that such a hybrid couldn't have been infertile (otherwise it wouldn't be able to breed at all). Instead, the Times explained it like this: " Hybrid populations often go extinct because the males are sterile, Dr. Reich pointed out, so hybrid females may have mated with male chimps to produce viable offspring. " Are humans unusual animals in this apparent extensive cross-breeding? Or are phylogenetic trees throughout the animal kingdom all just fantasies? These are huge questions, not fully contemplated in most of the reporting. But James Mallet at University College London told the Washington Post that Darwin favored the idea that new species emerge in a slow and stuttering fashion. " But, " the Post added, " in the early part of the 20th century, biologists came to favor the idea of clean breaks, with the 'pure' lines of emerging species being stronger and fitter than hybrids. " The Post's further excursion into this story, however, was not a quest for deeper meaning. Later in the week, the humor writers took over. " This whole idea of chimp–human hookups got us thinking about what interspecies couples fight over. " How about: " She keeps bugging me to get hair plugs for my back, " or " Thinks he's hot stuff because he invented 'the wheel', whatever that is. " So much for making any headway with all those folks who reject evolution to begin with. In 1960, the distinguished British biologist Julian Huxley returned from a research trip to Africa deeply disturbed by what he had seen: runaway habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting of endangered species that, unchecked, would drive many of them to extinction within a matter of years. Huxley shared his concerns with fellow scientists and other prominent personalities, who agreed that the challenge of protecting the natural world required something that, up until then, had never existed: an international organisation with …