RE: Human/Neanderthal Overlap
August 21, 2014 at 6:57 am
(This post was last modified: August 21, 2014 at 7:26 am by Anomalocaris.)
But given the tiny Neanderthal contribution to the genome of modern humans outside Europe, neither Neanderthal nor sapiens worked very hard at mingling during the time of their overlap.
Also, To be of the same species, two populations A and B must be able to interbreed both ways, A male - B female, A female - B male, to produce fertile off springs. If fertile offspring can only be produced in one way, then the two populations are genetically close, as close as between lions and tigers, but not of the same species.
While Neanderthals contributed a few percent to the nuclear DNA of modern Eurasians, they contributed zero percent to the mitochondria DNA of modern humans. This means all the successful interbreeding leaving genetic legacy to the present day were by Neanderthal males with sapien females. There were no instances of Neanderthal females mating with sapien males that left any genetic legacy to the present day. This suggests Neanderthals and humans were not of the same specie.
Also, To be of the same species, two populations A and B must be able to interbreed both ways, A male - B female, A female - B male, to produce fertile off springs. If fertile offspring can only be produced in one way, then the two populations are genetically close, as close as between lions and tigers, but not of the same species.
While Neanderthals contributed a few percent to the nuclear DNA of modern Eurasians, they contributed zero percent to the mitochondria DNA of modern humans. This means all the successful interbreeding leaving genetic legacy to the present day were by Neanderthal males with sapien females. There were no instances of Neanderthal females mating with sapien males that left any genetic legacy to the present day. This suggests Neanderthals and humans were not of the same specie.
