Do neanderthals exist today? Well, no. Not at all. These guys went extinct
a very long time ago, but it is very
possible that most of you watching this
video right now actually have a percentage of
your genes inherited from the Neanderthals. Some of you might even
have genetic inheritances from other human species,
but what does that mean and how is that even possible? Let's start with a very
brief history lesson. 2.8 million years ago, the genus
of Homo, or the first humans, emerged in Africa. Several human species
came and went, but the emergence
of Homo erectus about 1.9 million years ago
really changed everything. This was the first
human-like species to migrate out of Africa between
1.8 and 1.3 million years ago-- and they settled land as far
away as Georgia and Indonesia. Homo erectus would
continue to exist until as recently
as 70,000 years ago, meaning that they existed at
the same time as modern humans. We'll get back to that
interesting subject later. So moving forward a while in
history-- about 700,000 years ago-- we see the
emergence of Homo heidelbergensis--
also in Africa. This species had clear
resemblances to modern humans and was the second
human-like species to migrate out of Africa
400,000 to 300,000 years ago. The species migrated in two
different paths, however. The first group migrated into
Europe and the second group migrated towards East Asia. A third group
remained in Africa, and this is where all three
groups evolved separately from each other. Over time, the group in
Europe gradually evolved into the Neanderthals, the
group in East Asia evolved into a group of humans
called the Denisovans, and the group in Africa evolved
into our ancestors-- Homo sapiens and later
Homo sapiens sapiens. So the Neanderthals emerged
250,000 to 200,000 years ago and colonized a huge
amount of territory in Europe and West Asia. When modern humans first
left Africa and arrived in the Middle East-- around
100,000 years ago or so-- they encountered
the Neanderthals. And when they did, they got
down to business pretty quickly. This was the first mating
event between modern humans and Neanderthals,
and it involved the ancestors of every
human alive today without any African ancestry. The second mating event
happened around 50,000 years ago and involved the ancestors
of all Europeans today. And the third mating event
happened around Siberia 30,000 years ago and
involved the ancestors of all East Asians today. This means that today
every human being outside of Sub-Saharan Africa with
no Sub-Saharan ancestry has an average of 2.5%
of their genes inherited from Neanderthals. That number can range
from between 1% and 4% on an individual basis, however,
and is highest among Europeans and East Asians. So modern humans arrived in
Europe about 45,000 years ago, and the Neanderthals
went extinct between 41,000 and
39,000 years ago. Nobody really knows
why this happened. Modern humans may
have simply been better at finding
resources and adapted better to a warming climate,
or perhaps a bit of genocide occurred, or perhaps humans
mixed with the Neanderthals and simply absorbed them into
the modern human gene pool. It's not entirely clear, but the
fate of another human species called the Denisovans
is even less clear. This species was only
recently discovered in 2010 and from only
three fossils found in a cave here in Siberia--
a finger bone and two teeth. But that was enough for
geneticists, however, to identify a new human species,
but interestingly discovered that present day humans around
the cave and around Siberia have essentially no genetic
ancestry passed down from this species. The people alive today
who have the strongest genetic similarity
to the Denisovans are actually the
Melanesians-- the people who inhabit the island of
New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji. They have inherited about
4% to 6% of their genes from the Denisovans,
in addition to the 2.5% average Neanderthal
genes present in all non-African humans. Since we have so few
fossils, the only thing we really know
about the Denisovans currently is that they
lived 41,000 years ago and had a habitat stretching
from Denisova in Siberia down to Indonesia. Their borders overlapped
with the Neanderthals here because Neanderthal
bones have also been discovered in the same cave
that the Denisovan bones were found in. We also know that modern
humans mated with Denisovans at some point, but
only the Melanesians show significant amounts of
Denisovan ancestry today. So today we are all that is
left of the human species. Homo erectus went extinct
around 70,000 years ago. Neanderthals went extinct in
Europe around 40,000 years ago, but may have survived until
30,000 years ago in Siberia. We have no idea when Denisovans
may have gone extinct, but they're clearly
not around today. And we know of one
more human species that existed at the same time
as us called Homo floresiensis. They existed exclusively on the
island of Flores in Indonesia, and likely evolved
from Homo erectus. And they are affectionately
called hobbits from many scientists
because they only stood about 3 feet 6 inches
tall, or just a little over one meter. They lived on the island
from 100,000 to 50,000 years ago when they are believed
to have gone extinct-- soon after modern humans
arrived on the island. But there is some
evidence to suggest that they may have survived
as recently as just 12,000 years ago in remote parts of the
island-- or about the same time that this terrible
movie takes place in. Despite us being the
only species left, however, several of
us carry on the genes inherited from both
Neanderthals and Denisovans. If you're curious
to know exactly how much DNA that you have
inherited from either species, National Geographic
does have a DNA test that you can take that will
give you an accurate result. I put a link to that
page in the description. And thank you all for watching. OK, so if you're
interested in learning about what a world with
Neanderthals actually walking around today would
look like, then I would strongly suggest
watching this video by Alternate History Hub next. If you haven't already
subscribed to his channel yet, then I would highly
recommend changing that. You can subscribe to my
channel by clicking here if you haven't done so already. And you can go to the recently
created Real Life Lore subreddit at r/RealLifeLore
for future updates and additional conversations. Don't forget to follow me
on Facebook and Twitter. And thank you all
again for watching. Leave your comments below
about what you would like to see you next time.
Fun fact: Clickbait authors are actual Neanderthals.
I'm pretty sure some sub-saharan africans DO have neanderthal DNA. There was a recent paper on this.
Recent science has turned on its head the notion pushed by the racist "science" of the early 20th century, who claimed that Sub-Saharan Africans were "less evolved" away from primates.