Are the Aborigines surviving Neanderthals?
I'm not trying to be racist it's a serious question I studied their history and they arrived in Austrailia 40,000 years ago and the Neanderthals didn't die off in Europe until 24,000 years ago. They look identical to Neanderthal pictures and I kind of feel like if scientists new their was a connection they wouldn't make it public to avoid hurting feelings. I mean their is documented proof of the existence of neanderthal/homo sapien hybrids so it is likely that their is a known connection. Aboriginals didn't arrive in Austrailia by boat secondly recent research shows that Neanderthals went extinct by interbreeding with the larger Modern Human population but Austrailia was seperated from the rest of the World. Furthermore recent DNA research shows that Neanderthals were a subspecies of Homo Sapiens and not a seperate species at all.
2007-02-02 05:05:40 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
> Are the Aborigines surviving Neanderthals?
No. They're fully Homo sapiens sapiens.
> They look identical to Neanderthal pictures
No they don't.
> Aboriginals didn't arrive in Austrailia by boat
Actually, they probably did.
> Neanderthals went extinct by interbreeding with the larger Modern Human
Not likely. It's more likely that our ancestors hunted in larger groups than the Neanderthals fielded, and pushed the Neanderthals onto marginal land, where they couldn't really have a good living.
Australian aborigines are fully human Homo sapiens sapiens. Our distinguishing characteristic is the way we think, and this appeared before the Australian population was isolated.
2007-02-02 05:49:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
The defining property of a "species" is reproductive isolation. For example, ducks cannot reproduce with chickens or geese. The offspring of closely related species are sterile. Mules cannot bear or sire offspring, so equines and donkeys are still considered seperate species.
Australian aborigines are fully capable of producing healthy, fertile offspring with partners of any other race. By the classic definition they are therefore not a seperate species.
Many researchers dispute the theory that the Neanderthals were absorbed into Homo sapiens. Currently the Max Planck Institute is sequencing the Neanderthal genome, and it is hoped that this will answer that question.
2007-02-02 05:41:52 · answer #2 · answered by datamonkey0031 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No, they are homo sapiens.
2007-02-02 05:12:49 · answer #3 · answered by Lepke 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋