November 30, 2019
Did Cro-Magnon Man exterminate the Neanderthals?
Nope
According to new research:
In their study, Vaesen and his team ran population simulations for Neanderthal societies of various starting sizes (from 50 individuals to 100, 500, 1,000, or 5,000), ignoring the hypothetical factor of competitive interactions with the direct ancestors of modern humans.
While the historical impact of that long-ago conflict was discounted, the researchers included in their simulation three elements known to have a big effect on small populations.
These included the impacts of inbreeding, Allee effects(a biological phenomenon where a small population reduces the average fitness of individuals in the group), and stochasticity: random demographic fluctuations in births, deaths, and sex ratio, which end up putting smaller groups at a disadvantage in terms of overall survival.
That and they interbred with the early Homo Sapiens. They simply could not afford to not reproduce with their own kind.This research ignores the major factor of climate change in Europe; where the Cro-Magnon lived in warm and wet Africa the Neanderthals lived in Europe and the, uh, unusuually cold weather of the last Ice Age sure didn't help them survive. Cold is the real danger, not warming. And that without industrial particulates in the atmosphere! Oh, and the Ice Age didn't end because of all those Neanderthal autos. Fred Flintstone's foot-powered car just didn't emit enough CO2.
Oh, Here is something the English have been saying for centuries; the Irish and the Scots appear to possess higher levels of Neanderthal DNA than do most other peoples. According to the article:
Researchers at the John Radcliffe Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford were quoted by The Times as saying the so-called "ginger gene" which gives people red hair, fair skin and freckles could be up to 100 000 years old.
They claim that their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man who lived in Europe for 200 000 years before Homo sapien settlers, the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40 000 years ago.
Rosalind Harding, the research team leader, told The Times: "The gene is certainly older than 50 000 years and it could be as old as 100 000 years.
"An explanation is that it comes from Neanderthals." It is estimated that at least 10 percent of Scots have red hair and a further 40 percent carry the gene responsible, which could account for their once fearsome reputation as fighters.
Neanderthals have been characterised as migrant hunters and violent cannibals who probably ate most of their meat raw. They were taller and stockier than Homo sapiens, but with shorter limbs, bigger faces and noses, receding chins and low foreheads.
Well, most of the women I dated called me a Neanderthal, and I do have a lot of Irish blood. My wife too, but then she's got a lot of English in her...
On the other hand, she's probably right. I certainly BEHAVE like a guy who just shuffled out of a cave.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
03:48 AM
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Posted by: Dana Mathewson at November 30, 2019 10:14 AM (LVmqo)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at November 30, 2019 10:52 AM (Av220)
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at November 30, 2019 11:22 AM (LVmqo)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 01, 2019 07:16 AM (ItMSC)
Bears, on the other hand. . .
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at December 01, 2019 08:57 AM (eE7jE)
I know they eat mosquitoes, but I just can't warm to the filthy flying vermin.
I don't much like bears either, or anything that can challenge my role as apex predator, but I at least know a bear won't eat me (unless he's really, really hungry.)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 01, 2019 01:38 PM (GWhsQ)
Mebbe you were wearing earphones with screechy music playing through 'em?
As a kid I remember a friend of mine and myself going after bats in his backyard, with no success. We had bats in our neighborhood, and should have had enough sense to leave 'em alone to prey on the "skeeters." They never went after us.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at December 01, 2019 09:50 PM (1uSDQ)
Another time in the same park I almost got mauled by some guys dogs; he apparently walked them off leash at night in that same park. Rottweilers. He had to run and grab them before they feasted on my flesh. Then he was irritated with ME for being in the park at night! What a jackass.
Teenagers often went there at night to drink beer or make out. I was hardly the only kid who used that place after dark.
I had a lot of memories from that place. Before it became a park it was a part of a farm, and the farmer used to shoot salt from a shotgun at any kids he caught trespassing. Everyone did it anyway. I guess that's why he sold it to the county; he had no control over his own property, and the value was rising so when he got a good offer he took it.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 02, 2019 07:04 AM (rFgaF)
Posted by: peter at December 26, 2019 01:02 PM (ePLf7)
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