DNA reveals fi rst inter-species child Denny’s mother was a Neanderthal, but her father a Denisovan, a distinct species of primitive human
Agence France-Presse mania, also bolsters this no- Paris tion. But the most compell- Denny was an inter-species ing evidence that love child. inter-species hanky-panky in Her mother was a Nean- Late Pleistocene Eurasia may derthal, but her father was not have been that rare lies Denisovan, a distinct species in the genes of contempor- of primitive human that also ary humans. roamed the Eurasian conti- About 2% of DNA in non- nent 50,000 years ago, Africans across the globe to- scientists reported on Wed- day originate with Neander- nesday in the journal thals, earlier studies have Nature. shown. Nicknamed by Oxford Un- Denisovan remnants are iversity scientists, Denisova A saga of evolution: A bone fragment of Denisova 11 found in 2012 at Denisova Cave in the also widespread, though less 11 — her offi cial name — was Altai Mountains of Siberia; right, researchers excavating a cave for Denisovan fossils. * AFP evenly. at least 13 when she died, for “We fi nd traces of Deniso- reasons unknown. bone fragment unearthed in or and Max Planck Institute Or not. “The very fact that van DNA — less than 1% — 2012 by Russian archeolo- professor Svante Paabo, who we found this individual of everywhere in Asia and First direct link gists at the Denisova Cave in identifi ed the fi rstDenisovan mixed Neanderthal and De- among native Americans,” “There was earlier evidence the Altai Mountains of a decade ago at the same nisovan origins suggests that said Mr. Paabo. of interbreeding between Siberia. site. they interbred much more “Aboriginal Australians diff erent hominin, or early Analysis of the bone’s often than we thought,” said and people in Papua New human, groups,” said lead DNA left no doubt: the chro- Early humans Ms. Slon. Guinea have about 5%.” author Viviane Slon, a re- mosomes were a 50-50 mix Worldwide, fewer than two Mr. Paabo agreed: “They Taken together, these searcher at the Max Planck of Neanderthal and Deniso- dozen early human genomes must have quite commonly facts support a novel answer Institute for Evolutionary van, two distinct species of from before 40,000 years had kids together, otherwise to the hotly debated ques- Anthropology. “But this is early humans that split apart ago — Neanderthal, Deniso- we wouldn’t have been this tion of why Neanderthals — the fi rst time that we have between 4,00,000 to van, Homo sapiens — have lucky.” which had successfully found a direct, fi rst-genera- 5,00,000 years ago. been sequenced, and the A 40,000 year-old Homo spread across parts of west- tion off spring,” she said. “I initially thought that chances of stumbling on a sapiens with a Neanderthal ern and central Europe — dis- Denny’s surprising pedi- they must have screwed up half-and-half hybrid seemed ancestor a few generations appeared some 40,000 gree was unlocked from a in the lab,” said senior auth- vanishingly small. back, recently found in Ro- years ago.