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.
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And thank you all again for watching.
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