OK so I just found this article and I find it quite comical for several reasons, and I quote;
"The study uncovered the first solid genetic evidence that "modern" humans—or Homo sapiens—interbred with their Neanderthal neighbors, who mysteriously died out about 30,000 years ago. What's more, the Neanderthal-modern human mating apparently took place in the Middle East, shortly after modern humans had left Africa, not in Europe—as has long been suspected."So the basic premise of this article, as far as I understand it (please correct me if I'm wrong), is that the Neanderthal and modern humans are two different species. The Neanderthal is supposed to be part of the missing link between chimps and us. Basic biology people, different species can't interbreed... that's the reason they are considered a different species. If they do interbreed their offspring is infertile. E.g. a horse and a donkey, when they interbreed it produces a mule, which in turn is infertile. A horse and a donkey may look alike, their basic makeup may be similar BUT they are not the same species... what they look like doesn't change that. So, if the Neanderthal and the modern humans did interbreed, as DNA evidence suggests, what other conclusion can we draw but that we are the same species, we just look different. All we need to do is look at modern man and all the different races and colors we have today; black, white, yellow, red. I don't look Asian or African because I'm white. Does that mean that we're different species? No! Of course not. Not to compare man to animals but look at dogs. Who, looking at a fossil , would assume that the bones of a Great Dane and a Chihuahua were in fact the same species but just of a different breed?
"... all modern ethnic groups, other than Africans, carry traces of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, the study says..."
""But the fact is that Chinese and Melanesians are as closely related to Neanderthals" as Europeans, said Reich, a population geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University."
LOL Nobody!
My conclusion? The Neanderthal was just as human as we modern men are today but just of a different race not species. What archeologists and scientists have found is not a missing link between us and whatever else but in fact other human beings, Homo, sapien, sapien just like you and me.
Why is it that in biology books they tell us that species can't interbreed yet when it comes to "proving" evolution they conveniently forget to remind us of that fact?
4 comments:
Wow. Interesting as a fairytale. :)
I love the way you write and the topics you choose! Great stuff Janet my dear!
Thanks girl! Science is truly one of my passions! If I wasn't a missionary I'd probably be doing something pertaining to scientific research, probably genetics. I used to love genetics when I was in high school, there's something just fascinating about the human genome. Oh boy, if I were ever to go to university I'd try to do a double or triple major! I'd probably do microbiology, journalism and archeology! LOL I know they are totally unrelated to each other :op
How are things going in Canada?! Please say hi to all your family for me :o)
You must be kidding me. You say you love science, yet show such a lack of understanding.
Okay, first of all, it's hard to determine whether or not a fossil is the same specie, or a different, without genetic evidence(Ie. your dog example). So it was completely justified to take neanderthals as a different specie.
secondly, Neanderthals has not for a long time, if even ever, been taken as an intermediate fossil(specie) between chimps and humans. If you want such ones you have to look at H. Georgicus, H. Ergaster, H. Erectus, H. Habilis, A. africanus, A. Afarensis. A. Ramidus and so on.
Thirdly Neanderthals are a subspecie of Homo Sapien. Meaning, we're H.s.Sapien and neanderthals are H.s. Neanderthalensis.
Fourth, they are definitely not just a different race, we have sequenced their mtDNA and can see their outside the limits of H.s.Sapien.
Fifth, examples of donkey's having a child with for example a horse exists, meaning, they're not completely infertile. This is what evolution predicts, gradual isolation and distinctions from the other group which it branched(speciated) from. Meaning, at first they can ofcourse interbreed, then later, they can interbreed while getting some infertile offspring, later the chance of infertile offspring become higher and higher, at last, they begin to not even be able to produce and offspring at all with the other specie.
However, there is a lot of different definitions and boundries by different people. For example, theoretically it should be possible to produce atleast an infertile cross-breed of humans and chimps. However no one wants to test this, not even I, because it poses way too many problems, both ethically and many others.
We also have example of what I said, meaning, a gradual change causing more and more difference ending with species which cannot interbreed. Try and look up ring-speciation.
Best regards
Dennis
PS. please, Pm me on fb if you're interested in a conversation or to answer these points. ( Dennis Bayram - With the Chicken Joe picture )
Hi Dennis!
Thank you for your comment! I always enjoy being challenged! :o)
My criticism is not against paleontology or science but against the article that I read, which claims that the species of Neanderthals interbred with the modern species of H. Sapiens. The article, in my understanding, posited these two groups as different species and then claimed that they interbred. All I’m doing here is taking one of my first lectures in biology which stated that two species cannot interbreed and produce a fertile offspring - hence my horse and donkey analogy, which produces an infertile mule. Thus going to the next logical step that if they (Neanderthals and H. Sapiens) did interbreed successfully, as evidence supports, that they weren’t in fact different species but the same species.
Creating crossbreeds, like what you are suggesting, is a scary thought, I agree! Let’s just hope that nobody in the world is actually tempting such a thing!
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