Table of Contents
Can Neanderthals still be alive?
Neanderthals (/niˈændərˌtɑːl, neɪ-, -ˌθɑːl/, also Neandertals, Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago.
In which part of the world have Neanderthal remains mostly been found?
All traces of Neanderthals disappeared by about 40,000 years ago. The most recently dated Neanderthal fossils come from small areas of western Europe and the Near east, which was likely where the last population of this early human species existed.
Are there any other hominins alive today?
Some recently extinct species in the genus Homo have only recently been discovered and do not as yet have consensus binomial names (see Denisova hominin and Red Deer Cave people). Since the beginning of the Holocene, it is likely that Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) has been the only extant species of Homo.
What if Neanderthals still existed?
But what if Neanderthals were still alive? In a way, they are. Turns out, the genomes of Neanderthals still walk Earth – as part of the human race. An analysis of the DNA of 379 Europeans and 286 East Asians revealed genomes not characteristic of modern humans.
Why did Neanderthals become extinct?
Neanderthals did not go extinct because of climate change and competition with modern humans—they were doomed to be wiped out as a result of the evolutionary phenomenon of “random species drift.”.
Are the Neanderthals really extinct?
Violence. Some authors have discussed the possibility that Neanderthal extinction was either precipitated or hastened by violent conflict with Homo sapiens.
Did Neanderthals really exist?
Neanderthals are an extinct species of the genus Homo, which includes humans and many of our ancestors and their evolutionary spinoffs. Neanderthals only existed between about 130,000 and 24,000 years ago, and can be thought of as an early human adapted to harsh Ice Age climates.