I heard that Neanderthals became extinct because their females never stayed home and raised the family...?

Question

I heard that female Neanderthals went out to hunt with the males and as a result no one stayed with the children. As a result, the Neanderthal children became weaker and weaker every generation because of the lack of love. And that is why they became extinct. Is that true?

Answer 1

I think what you're referring to is a recent theory posited by anthropologists that credits early modern humans success with the specialization of certain skills amongst males and females. What this means is that instead of the entire population hunting and gathering, making utensils, living areas etc.... these jobs would be divvied up amongst the sexes, giving early humans more time to perfect their separate skills. This same theory might explain why other homo genus members did not stick around as long (either being absorbed by early homo sapiens through breeding, or disappearance through extinction). I think, though, that it would NOT have to do with Neanderthals not caring for their offspring. A more likely explanation would be that as homo sapiens divided labor, it gave more time for individuals to perfect the technology that they used (weapons, weaving, etc.), so when the need to adapt to say, an ice age or a famine rolled around, our ancestors, who relied on each other, and each other's specialized skills, probably had a better chance of survival.

One should also keep in mind that there is no definite answer to the question of what "happened" to the Neanderthals, but it is clear that they no longer exist as a distinctly separate group from homo sapiens. Also, the above mentioned theory is just that- a theory, and probably a pretty good one, but one should always allow for the fact that when dealing with a subject where there is not much physical evidence to support or deny a theory, one should keep an open mind about other possibilities.

Answer 2

I'd indeed be interested in knowing your sources, not just hearsay. While scientific people are handing out a lot of speculations about that, I'd be surprised they could come up and show evidence that mammal females, be they Neanderthals, would leave their progeny alone and go hunting with males. If they do, all the evidences we have is they get organized to leave adults home to keep an eye on the young, like hyenas or wild dogs do in Africa.

Answer 3

No one knows exactly why the neanderthals became extinct. (Maybe it was global warming....that seems to cause every other problem in the world.) There is a theory that they interbred with Cro-Magnon, there is the theory of a war, there is the theory that there weren't that many to begin with. Again, no one knows for sure. Your theory is as good as any, until some proof is found.

Answer 4

Nope. As a matter of fact, there are theories that Neanderthals did not become extinct but inter-bred with Cro-Magnon man to form modern humans.

Answer 5

Don't believe what those little leprechauns tell you. Everybody knows that Geiko hunted them to extinction.

Answer 6

They aren't extinct. I just saw one on a Geiko commercial.