Posted on 05/16/2006 3:33:16 PM PDT by blam
Far as I'm concerned, all of those things were glorified apes. That's basically an ape's skull. Most likely gorillas and chimps survived and neanderthals and other hominids didn't because the gorillas and chimps were better adapted.
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Visions of 'Clan of the Cave Bear' dance in my head.
Mitochondrial recombination hasn't held up to investigation. Adam Eyre-Walker seems to have already studied this. It is a interesting idea that didn't pan out.
"If recombination occurs, there needs to be a route by which genetic material can incorporate itself into mitochondrial lineages. We review the evidence for possible routes and then review the current state of the population genetic evidence for recombination. We conclude that there is no firmly established route by which recombination can occur, and that while some of the population genetic evidence is suggestive of recombination, it is far from conclusive" (Eyre-Walker A, Awadalla P (2001) Does human mtDNA recombine? Journal of Molecular Evolution)
Yesss!!! Finally, like the answer or not, we approach an answer to the Neanderthal question. I get tired of explaining the limitations of matrilineal mtDNA.
Our paths haven't passed in a while. Where have you been?
Clueless.
Look at the size of the brain case.
while some of the population genetic evidence is suggestive of recombination, it is far from conclusive...because I just wanna believe all these mtDNA studies which pay all my bills. Waaaah!
I wonder if anyone has ever done a geographic mobility study on Neanderthals using isotope analysis from teeth...
Good idea.
"Abstract: The carbon and nitrogen isotopic abundances of the collagen extracted from the Saint-Césaire I Neanderthal have been used to infer the dietary behaviour of this specimen. A review of previously published Neanderthal collagen isotopic signatures with the addition of 3 new collagen isotopic signatures from specimens from Les Pradelles allows us to compare the dietary habits of 5 Neanderthal specimens from OIS 3 and one specimen from OIS 5c. This comparison points to a trophic position as top predator in an open environment, with little variation through time and space. In addition, a comparison of the Saint-Césaire I Neanderthal with contemporaneous hyaenas has been performed using a multi-source mixing model, modified from Phillips and Gregg (2003, Oecologia 127, 171). It appears that the isotopic differences between the Neanderthal specimen and hyaenas can be accounted for by much lower amounts of reindeer and much higher amounts of woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth in the dietary input of the Neanderthal specimen than in that of hyaenas, with relatively similar contributions of bovinae, large deer and horse for both predators, a conclusion consistent with the zooarchaeological data. The high proportion of very large herbivores, such as woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth, in Neanderthal's diet compare to that of the scavenging hyaenas suggests that Neanderthals could not acquire these prey through scavenging. They probably had to hunt for proboscideans and rhinoceros. Such a prey selection could result from a long lasting dietary tradition in Europe."
"Isotopic evidence for diet and subsistence pattern of the Saint-Césaire I Neanderthal: review and use of a multi-source mixing model"
Hervé Bocherensa, Dorothée G. Drucker, Daniel Billiou, Marylène Patou-Mathis, and Bernard Vandermeersch
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.03.003
At 45,000 ya, this individual is probably just inside the far range of human contact. To find evidence of interbreeding I would think they need to find a specimen closer to the 29,000 ya mark.
Neanderthals diverged from the evolutionary line that led to modern humans about 315,000 years ago. Neanderthals lived across Europe and parts of west and central Asia from approximately 230,000 to 29,000 years ago
315,000 years ago is a lot more recent than the 700,000ya figure I recall from previous research but still well before Neanderthals show up in Eurasia. It fits the picture of our small group of human ancestors living on the outer banks of Southey Africa 200,000ya and suggests that Neanderthals are/were our closest separate branch moving out.
That was supposed to be southeast Africa. Spell checker does funny things...
Meat eating precedes genus Homo. I remember reading something about meat eating among australopithecines and perhaps it's why there are so few vegetarian species (one maybe?) in the genus. It's something I always mention when putting steaks on the grill.
Widespread recombination in published animal mtDNA sequencesMitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) recombination has been observed in several animal species, but there are doubts as to whether it is common or only occurs under special circumstances. Animal mtDNA sequences retrieved from public databases were unambiguously aligned and rigorously tested for evidence of recombination. At least 30 recombination events were detected among 186 alignments examined. Recombinant sequences were found in invertebrates and vertebrates, including primates. It appears that mtDNA recombination may occur regularly in the animal cell but rarely produces new haplotypes because of homoplasmy. Common animal mtDNA recombination would necessitate a reexamination of phylogenetic and biohistorical inference based on the assumption of clonal mtDNA transmission. Recombination may also have an important role in producing and purging mtDNA mutations and thus in mtDNA-based diseases and senescence.
Tsaousis AD, Martin DP, Ladoukakis ED, Posada D, Zouros E.
Jan 12 2005
Mol Biol Evol.
2005 Apr;
22(4):925-33.
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