What if there are two or three human species today?

[M.S. Islam]

The only way we would know this for sure is if we cloned a Neanderthal. The first step to cloning a Neanderthal is to sequence its entire genome, and that has been done.

It has been approximated, not sequenced. Because of decay of fossils, only an insignificant part (~0.03%) of actual Neanderthal DNA could be extracted. The rest 99.97% was 'approximated'.

For perspective, human and chimp DNA was sequenced using 100% of actual DNA strands.

 

[johnminnitt]

Just a thought, I wonder what others might think about it.
There has been a lot of talk about Neanderthals, but what if, in remote parts of the world, a few earlier human (or hominid, depending on how one defines 'human') species had survived, maybe Erectus, even some earlier forms. With those there in the gap between modern humans and other primates, I wonder would the idea of humans as something apart from, and fundamentally different from, other animals have arisen?

 

[BuckBradley]

Just a thought, I wonder what others might think about it.
There has been a lot of talk about Neanderthals, but what if, in remote parts of the world, a few earlier human (or hominid, depending on how one defines 'human') species had survived, maybe Erectus, even some earlier forms. With those there in the gap between modern humans and other primates, I wonder would the idea of humans as something apart from, and fundamentally different from, other animals have arisen?

Erectus in my huckleberry---that's the boy that finally stepped away from the apes, IMHO.

 

[Naomasa298]

What a copout.

Yes, your post is. You blew your assertion out of the water with your own source and the best you can do is this feeble non-response?

 

[Teslatron]

Also it's proven that hybrid with Neanderthal mom didn't survive or were very rare, cause there is no trace of mitochondrial DNA from Neanderthal

This is not entirely true. If Neanderthal mom, or her hybrid daughter, or her daughter's daughter, gives births to only sons, her mtDNA would disappear, but her DNA contribution would go on.

 

[Kocc Barma]

This is not entirely true. If Neanderthal mom, or her hybrid daughter, or her daughter's daughter, gives births to only sons, her mtDNA would disappear, but her DNA contribution would go on.

This is not entirely true. If Neanderthal mom, or her hybrid daughter, or her daughter's daughter, gives births to only sons, her mtDNA would disappear, but her DNA contribution would go on.

Possible but that scenario is unlikely to happened. Unless proven that most hybrid Neanderthal give birth to male only or with a high probability.

 

[Kocc Barma]

Also for me they are potentially to way that early human could survive. First remotes location with small population. Second they are among US but we didn't notice. Not that it's a conspiracy they don't know themselves that they are not Homo sapiens. Many genetic studies just take people lavatory among a population with mean that we didn't pick them till now. In this scenario they are just consider as a different ethnic group and have a low level of interbreeding.

 

[seneschal]

Its also quite possible that if Neanderthals had survived to the present day that their physical appearance could have evolved even further, perhaps losing more muscle mass, as the conditions that led up to having a robust body is no longer present. It could have changed further with diet, and sedentary living with the advent of horticulture and agriculture.

In this TL, modern Neanderthals would be less robust than his ice age ancestors and probably would have evolved to look somewhat closer to present day Homo Sapien races. Depending on whatever part of the world Neanderthals find themselves in. For example, the branch of Neanderthals still existing in Manchuria or Tibet, those Neanderthals/Denisovans would look somewhat closer to Asiatic. For the sake of argument if they are still in Central Asia, then the Central Asian Neanderthals, also develop a pastoral nomadic culture, provided they domesticate the horse at about the same time as humans. If that is the case, then these Neanderthal nomads would inevitably come into conflict with the later Huns, Mongols and Chinese.
As stated earlier Europe would be their stronghold but even there would eventually be driven further north as the Arabs and Central Asians move in and drive them away.




Six distinct races of modern Homo Sapiens. Would the Neanderthals have evolved into separate
races as well resembling those of Homo Sapiens?

 

[sparky]

The "classic "neanderthal was an extreme form of the sub-specie
the middle east neanderthal were much less bulky
while the "classic" Cro-Magnon was hardly typical of today's human , they were extremely tall

 

[Kocc Barma]

Its also quite possible that if Neanderthals had survived to the present day that their physical appearance could have evolved even further, perhaps losing more muscle mass, as the conditions that led up to having a robust body is no longer present. It could have changed further with diet, and sedentary living with the advent of horticulture and agriculture.

In this TL, modern Neanderthals would be less robust than his ice age ancestors and probably would have evolved to look somewhat closer to present day Homo Sapien races. Depending on whatever part of the world Neanderthals find themselves in. For example, the branch of Neanderthals still existing in Manchuria or Tibet, those Neanderthals/Denisovans would look somewhat closer to Asiatic. For the sake of argument if they are still in Central Asia, then the Central Asian Neanderthals, also develop a pastoral nomadic culture, provided they domesticate the horse at about the same time as humans. If that is the case, then these Neanderthal nomads would inevitably come into conflict with the later Huns, Mongols and Chinese.
As stated earlier Europe would be their stronghold but even there would eventually be driven further north as the Arabs and Central Asians move in and drive them away.



View attachment 19074
Six distinct races of modern Homo Sapiens. Would the Neanderthals have evolved into separate
races as well resembling those of Homo Sapiens?

There is not "six race" among Homo sapiens. There is seven great group of population. By the way the Khoisan are part of the sub Saharan population. Human are too similar to talk about races. But we can basically distinguish seven population regardind the geographic repartition : sub Saharan, middle Easterner, East Asian, west Asian , European, Oceanian and American (native)