Humans and Neanderthals May Have Hooked Up 50,000 Years Early

[Fanghawk]

Humans and Neanderthals May Have Hooked Up 50,000 Years Early

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/878/878385.jpgNew research suggests humans and Neanderthals were interbreeding roughly one hundred thousand years ago.

Modern anthropologists were already getting used to the idea <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139625-Science-Uncovers-Where-Humans-And-Neanderthals-May-Have-Started-Love-Affair>that human evolution was influenced by Neanderthal interbreeding. But new research suggests this interbreeding was happening a lot earlier than anyone expected. A close look at the DNA of a Serbian Neanderthal has revealed traces of human-Neanderthal breeding from 100,000 years ago - 50,000 years longer than previous estimates.

"I think our idea of these being really separate and highly distinct groups that had relatively little interaction, that is starting to change," Adam Siepel of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory explained.

Science has already studied human DNA and find traces of Neanderthal genomes. What makes this sample different is that it was pulled from the well-preserved toe of the Altai Neanderthal. This implies that both Neanderthal and human offspring were influenced by each groups genetic makeup, and a lot earlier than scientists initially thought. "It was perplexing to see gene flow in the opposite direction," Siepel said.

The other implication is that some modern humans were migrating from Africa almost immediately after Homo sapiens first evolved. Exact details of human migration from this period are sketchy, limited to a handful of bones in scattered sites. Whatever the case, we can now assume the migrants lived alongside - and hooked up with - local Neanderthals along the way.

"It seems clear that there was a fair amount of interbreeding," Siepel continued. "We now know of at least four events between different groups of archaic hominins, and we're probably going to keep discovering more."

Source: Washington Post

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[The Rogue Wolf]

That's humanity for ya: If we don't kill a competitor into extinction, we fuck 'em into extinction instead.

We're kind of a cross between the Daleks and the Borg: Exterminate or assimilate!

 

[Zontar]

That's humanity for ya: If we don't kill a competitor into extinction, we fuck 'em into extinction instead.

We're kind of a cross between the Daleks and the Borg: Exterminate or assimilate!

We can still see that in politics today.

Spoiler

But out-competing Neanderthals was a bit of a biological inevitability when you get right down to it. They need on average two and a half times as much energy as we do each day, and their diet requires mostly meat compared to our more balanced one. We outnumbered them 10 to one fro the longest time simply due to the fact the meat one of them needed each day could feed 10 of us.

Add the ability to interbreed and it makes sense that as communities got more outnumbered the odds of mixing would increase. Tribes usually have one of its members go to a neighbouring tribe to find a partner, having 10 out of 11 be Human ones means it's actually a surprise they lasted as long as they did.

 

[Metalrocks]

saw this on a bbc program called "history of the world". they even implicated that homo sapience may have eaten them as well and simply ran them in to extinction.
interesting series as well.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Can't say I'm surprised. Wax philosophical about the innate goodness of Mankind all you want, we do have a pretty good track record when it comes to screwing with our neighbors, both literally and figuratively. First it was Cro-Mangons fucking Neanderthals, fast-forward a couple hundred thousand years and it's the Saracens and Christians fucking each other over some scrap of land's purported holiness - and now it's Fundie Muslims Versus Everyone Else because what they lack in power, they sure do make up in self-sustaining righteousness. If wars tend to provide one byproduct, it's usually a crapton of unwanted kids, too.

Humanity - ain't we grand?

 

[fractal_butterfly]

The big question still remains, why (and if) they were genetically compatible. You can't even breed Horses and Zebras without getting a sterile offspring.

 

[Creator002]

The big question still remains, why (and if) they were genetically compatible. You can't even breed Horses and Zebras without getting a sterile offspring.

I would assume (I'm no biologist, just a more-than-passing interest in evolution) that Humans and Neanderthals would be more closely related to each other than a horse and a zebra.[footnote]"They were closely related to modern humans, having DNA over 99.5% the same." - Wikipedia[/footnote]
Close enough to mate, not too far to be sterile.

 

[rcs619]

The big question still remains, why (and if) they were genetically compatible. You can't even breed Horses and Zebras without getting a sterile offspring.

I would assume (I'm no biologist, just a more-than-passing interest in evolution) that Humans and Neanderthals would be more closely related to each other than a horse and a zebra.[footnote]"They were closely related to modern humans, having DNA over 99.5% the same." - Wikipedia[/footnote]
Close enough to mate, not too far to be sterile.

Pretty much, yeah. Cross-species hybridization doesn't happen all that commonly in nature (most species' eggs are pretty hard-encoded to only accept sperm from a member of their own species), but it is certainly far from unheard of. In most cases, as the other guy pointed out, the offspring is sterile. This isn't always the case though. The Beefalo (one of the best names ever), for example, is a cross between a domestic cow and an American Buffalo, and they are actually fertile. You also see other fertile hybrid offspring between the various canid species, dogs, wolves, coyotes and jackals. False Killer Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins can apparently mate to form fertile hybrids as well. Plants also hybridize with other plants a lot too, and they tend to produce fertile hybrids more often than animals.

So yeah, it's not the norm, but fertile hybrids are very much a thing that happens. It just, sort of depends on how the genetics and cellular markers line up. Nature is such a cool thing

 

[Thaluikhain]

But out-competing Neanderthals was a bit of a biological inevitability when you get right down to it. They need on average two and a half times as much energy as we do each day, and their diet requires mostly meat compared to our more balanced one. We outnumbered them 10 to one fro the longest time simply due to the fact the meat one of them needed each day could feed 10 of us.

Not to mention brain capacity. Also, the shape of the mouth/nose/throat gave them a more limited vocal range, which has problems with language.

But, really, don't need anything like that, two species that fill the same niche in the same region is one species too many in the long run, even minor differences will add up to one displacing the other. And modern humans have been exceedingly good at reshaping the environment to suit themselves.

 

[PunkRex]

That's humanity for ya: If we don't kill a competitor into extinction, we fuck 'em into extinction instead.

We're kind of a cross between the Daleks and the Borg: Exterminate or assimilate!

Anthropologists: THIS JUST IN, HUMANS ARE RANDY FUCKERS!

OT: Not surprised, some people like to argue that humans are violent and xenophobic (or what ever a hatred of differing tribes/groups is called) but we seem far more willing to whip our bits out than our weapons.