This ancient teenager is the first known person with parents of two different species

What an interesting find !

This child was found to have been born of 2 different species of the homo genus.

A new ancient DNA study published in Nature Wednesday reports the first known person to have had parents of two different species. The studied remains belonged to a girl who had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) lived throughout Europe and Western Asia until around 30,000 years ago. This species lived in several different ecological zones, survived three glacial periods, and were excellent hunters and tool-makers. Denisovans (Homo sapiens denisova), on the other hand, we know very little about. Thus far they have only been found in Denisova Cave in Sibera as tiny bone fragments. We don’t yet know what they looked like – nor exactly what they were capable of. Neanderthal, Denisovans, and modern humans all shared a common ancestor more than 400,000 years ago.

www.pbs.org...

a reply to: Groot

Possibly the legendary missing link?

Interesting find!

a reply to: Groot

When I saw that story last week my first thought was about Larry Niven.
Rishathra.

It's a great way to make peace.

Wow!! That is interesting . Thanks for
Posting .

originally posted by: wtfatta
a reply to: Groot

Possibly the legendary missing link?

No. There is no missing link and no need for one. That is a fanciful invention of the Victorian MSM when faced with the fake Piltdown Man hoax.

Reading the story carefully you see that the author claims the two "different" species are "Homo Neanderthalensis" and "Homo sapiens denisova." That is inconsistent because it is comparing a species with a sub-species. Many anthropologists designate Neanderthal as "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis." It's controversial and has been a running argument for at least a century. If you accept the idea that Homo sapiens neanderthalensis mated with Homo sapiens denisova, then you don't have two different species at all, but two sub-species. That they could have off-spring is really no big deal. Whatever side of this split hair argument you decide to take, the take-away here is that the three species, including Homo sapiens sapiens (Yes, that is correct) is that they are close enough to breed, just slight variations on a theme. Also, the information on Denisova is slight and is based on a few teeth. As more and more is recovered it is quite obvious that there were a number of sub-species of Hominins running around contemporaneously with each other and it would not be at all surprising if other "pairings" were discovered.

a reply to: schuyler

With what's being learned about genetics, the whole concept of "species" is being given a relook. May go the way of "kind."

a reply to: schuyler

Not a big deal that it happened, I'll agree- but still really neat that we found a homosapien equivalent of the donkey.

a reply to: an325nt

You mean mule. Right?

a reply to: Groot

I bet her mother was raped. Just sayin.

a reply to: angeldoll

I hear Denisovans were good looking and had very good parenting skills. And great hunters. Really great hunters.

Attractive.

It's not equivalent, but much closer. In the case of mules, they are sterile, right? (NB: My mother absolutely insisted there was a fertile mule where she grew up, but that's just Mom talking.) In the case of Neanderthal and Denisova, all non-Africans have between 2-4% of their DNA today, so--not sterile. But this still shows the issues. In theory, speciation is achieved when the two differing animals are no longer able to produce offspring, but the line here is not strictly binary. Tigers and lions can produce Ligers. Horses and zebras and you get a Zorse. But at some point a 'tipping point' is reached and the two species go their separate ways. In fact, it was relatively recently that DNA proved giraffes are actually four species, not one. I really don't think anyone should be surprised at this. It's just that until the advent of DNA analysis our tools were too coarse to recognize the differences and yeah, we may have to change our definition of "species" as a result.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: angeldoll

I hear Denisovans were good looking and had very good parenting skills. And great hunters. Really great hunters.

Attractive.

Mmhm. Let's just hope her mother thought so, which I doubt.

You've got power? Good. Remember to use your belt to anchor yourself to a concrete pole. Leave your phone on video.
Thanks.

a reply to: angeldoll

Lane is no more.
Deceased.
Extinct.
A former hurricane.

And I got a day off work.


In Clan of the Cave Bear, it was the Neanderthals who were the rapers.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: angeldoll

Lane is no more.
Deceased.
Extinct.
A former hurricane.

And I got a day off work.


In Clan of the Cave Bear, it was the Neanderthals who were the rapers.

I did 23 and Me. I have scant Neanderthal DNA. Now I know why. They weren't very attractive.

Although Clan of the Cave Bear is not a documentary.

Has the flooding subsided?

The father was either three sheets to the wind or raped in his sleep....or at Flint point. The Coitus probably took place the same week Beer was invented.

a reply to: angeldoll

Although Clan of the Cave Bear is not a documentary.

Dammit. Well it was written like one.

Yeah. The rain stopped pretty quickly after the storm died. Water drains pretty quick after that. But Hawaii was the only place it got really bad. The other islands, not as much.

originally posted by: angeldoll

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: angeldoll

Lane is no more.
Deceased.
Extinct.
A former hurricane.

And I got a day off work.


In Clan of the Cave Bear, it was the Neanderthals who were the rapers.

I did 23 and Me. I have scant Neanderthal DNA. Now I know why. They weren't very attractive.

Or your ancestors weren't. It could go either way.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: schuyler

With what's being learned about genetics, the whole concept of "species" is being given a relook. May go the way of "kind."

I have been intrigued by this myself. But it makes more sense to me within the context of how the universe seems to function. The wave form concept where black and gray is only a degree of how white something relatively is.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Or how black?

What's wrong with you?

/kidding

a reply to: schuyler

I was being facetious

Interesting info though