# I can has Neanderthal genes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552 "2010-05-06T21:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/21 "2010-05-07T17:47:42Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > They say that you couldn’t tell a neanderthal in a suit passing you by from a regular person in a suit passing you by, so I am inclined to think there was at least one neanderthal hottie. Heavy brow ridges are one of those things guys can pull off, but women can’t. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/22 "2010-05-07T17:51:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Heavy brow ridges are one of those things guys can pull off, but women can’t. ☹ True 'dat. :-\ ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/23 "2010-05-07T17:54:24Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > No, but they’d beat the snot out of you if you didn’t answer “No” to “Does this hide make me look fat?” quickly enough. Silly Cro-Magnon. To Neanderthals, fat _is_ hot. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/24 "2010-05-07T18:04:18Z")
Okay, so if I saw one on the street, wearing a suit I wouldn’t be able to tell they weren’t… black? White? Asian? What ethnicity would they most closely resemble? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/25 "2010-05-07T18:04:42Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Aren’t they called H. sapiens neanderthalensis nowadays? No. They used to be called that maybe 20-30 years ago, but until this data, must of the data we got since then showed no interbreeding. > [@Pleonast](#): > > I think that as our knowledge of population genetics improves, we’ll discover that the species concept is naturally very fuzzy. I think we’re already there. If anyone is interested, NPR is discussing this now on _Science Friday_. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/26 "2010-05-07T18:06:45Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Okay, so if I saw one on the street, wearing a suit I wouldn’t be able to tell they weren’t… black? White? Asian? What ethnicity would they most closely resemble? We don’t know. Odds are they had light-ish skin, but that’s just a guess based on the fact they lived mostly in the north. Artist renditions tend to make them look like heavy set Caucasians with large noses and heavy brow ridges. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/27 "2010-05-07T18:18:24Z")
NatGeo had an article on this. Here is a link showing some of the suggested versions of what a Neanderthal female might have looked like: [http://www.femininebeauty.info/neanderthal-woman](http://www.femininebeauty.info/neanderthal-woman) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/28 "2010-05-07T18:20:18Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > We don’t know. Odds are they had light-ish skin, but that’s just a guess based on the fact they lived mostly in the north. Artist renditions tend to make them look like heavy set Caucasians with large noses and heavy brow ridges. You know what would be really funny? The 1-4% of genes that non-Africans inherited from Neanderthals were the ones for pale skin. I can foresee a lot of racist jokes about racists. 😃 It’s not completely crazy–pale skin is adaptive at high latitudes. And adaptive genes are the ones most likely to persist in a population. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/29 "2010-05-07T18:22:20Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > You know what would be really funny? The 1-4% of genes that non-Africans inherited from Neanderthals were the ones for pale skin. I can foresee a lot of racist jokes about racists. 😃 > > . Talk about being stuck between a cave and a dark place… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/30 "2010-05-07T19:05:11Z")
Perhaps even more interesting is that this study suggests two areas of interbreeding, one of which did not have any Neanderthals, and so the interbreeding would be with an even more distant ancestor-- some form of _H. erectus_. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/31 "2010-05-07T19:14:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Perhaps even more interesting is that this study suggests two areas of interbreeding, one of which did not have any Neanderthals, and so the interbreeding would be with an even more distant ancestor-- some form of _H. erectus_. [Hey, baby. How you doin’?](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Homo_erectus_Steveoc_86.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/32 "2010-05-07T19:17:47Z")
This one is more of a split difference between the Homos Erectus and Sapien. [Link](http://www.donsmaps.com/hominidimages/erectussapiensbones.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/33 "2010-05-07T19:19:04Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > [Hey, baby. How you doin’?](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Homo_erectus_Steveoc_86.jpg) Is that a stick in your hand, or are you just an Erectus? 😃 OK, I got a nice little snippet from the NPR program. Apparently, the researchers found 12 areas in non-African modern humans that show very deep ancestry (ie, before the out of Africa event) that were not seen in African populations. When they looked at the same spot in the Neanderthal genome, 10 of those areas matched the Neanderthals. That’s pretty compelling evidence for interbreeding. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/34 "2010-05-07T19:20:48Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > This one is more of a split difference between the Homos Erectus and Sapien. > > [Link](http://www.donsmaps.com/hominidimages/erectussapiensbones.jpg) They should have made the two specimens the same height. Some populations of Erectus were very tall. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/35 "2010-05-07T19:23:47Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > They should have made the two specimens the same height. Some populations of Erectus were very tall. When I saw the Erectoid (haha) in the picture I just wanted to scream KKKKHHHAAAANNNN!!! ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/36 "2010-05-07T19:31:20Z")
Here for whomever is interested a good link of a close up reconstruction of a Neanderthal dude. [Link.](http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/eyzies-musecc81e-la_ferrassie.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/37 "2010-05-07T19:47:25Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > Here for whomever is interested a good link of a close up reconstruction of a Neanderthal dude. > > [Link.](http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/eyzies-musecc81e-la_ferrassie.jpg) Nah. That’s just Liam Neesan after a 3-day bender. You gotta admit it looks a bit like him! Neanderthals were very heavily muscled, and would have looked like body builders. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/38 "2010-05-07T19:51:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > We don’t know. Odds are they had light-ish skin, but that’s just a guess based on the fact they lived mostly in the north. Artist renditions tend to make them look like heavy set Caucasians with large noses and heavy brow ridges. > [@Gagundathar](#): > > NatGeo had an article on this. > > Here is a link showing some of the suggested versions of what a Neanderthal female might have looked like: > [http://www.femininebeauty.info/neanderthal-woman](http://www.femininebeauty.info/neanderthal-woman) The male from the link has that large nose. How would they know their nose is that large? Isn’t nose mostly cartilage, not usually becoming fossilized? ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/39 "2010-05-07T19:53:02Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Nah. That’s just Liam Neesan after a 3-day bender. > > You gotta admit it looks a bit like him! > > Neanderthals were very heavily muscled, and would have looked like body builders. Yeah it really does, like someone kicked his ass, but since the GHB is starting to wear off, he is going to extract his revenge. Liam Neaderthalis in theaters soon, rated R. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552/40 "2010-05-07T19:53:46Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > The male from the link has that large nose. How would they know their nose is that large? Isn’t nose mostly cartilage, not usually becoming fossilized? The size of the nasal opening and the slope of the bone where the nose begins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-has-neanderthal-genes/538552.md?page=3)