What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
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Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#2Boy it so tempting to come up with "just so" stories to explain this. And so frustrating that we will probably never be able to determine the answer. but still cool.
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#3Before anyone jaunts too far down the road of literal survivorship bias, I'd like to point out that it'd be incredibly premature—or perhaps way too late—to speculate much on the social side of things.
Elsewhere I've seen some people making hay about exactly whose-males were with whose-females, and want to point out that it's normal for genes to cause asymmetries.
In particular, consider the modern problem of RH incompatibility [0], where one pairing is more likely to end up with a child than an identical but gender-bent one.
[0] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21053-rh-fact...
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#4Before anyone jaunts too far down the road of literal survivorship bias, I'd like to point out that it'd be incredibly premature—or perhaps way too late—to speculate much on the social side of things. Elsewhere I've seen some people making hay about exactly whose-males were with whose-females, and want to point out that it's normal for genes to cause asymmetries. In particular, consider the modern problem of RH incom…
or even as simple as mitochondria...
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#5Is there any non-paywalled link for this?
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#6In those days, there were γίγαντες and also after.
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#7[flagged]
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#8Presumably this hypothesis is meant to explain why there is this observed asymmetry in the type of Neanderthal DNA we find in modern human populations that contain them, which is entirely autosomal. With none in the mitochondrial form, which is exclusively passed down along the female line, and also none in the Y-chromosome form, which is exclusively passed down along the male line.
Without weighing on the validity of their hypothesis that one or both sides found the other“especially attractive”, an alternative mechanism that could explain why we only see Neanderthal autosomal DNA in modern humans could be that only the female offspring of male-Neanderthal and female-sapiens pairings were reproductively fertile. This is more commonly the case in interspecies hybrids, see Haldane’s rule.
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#9In those days, there were γίγαντες and also after.
evidently, i'm not the only one who has watched Ancient Aliens (though with the fam for historical mysteries blended with hilarity)
Re: What our DNA reveals about the sex life of Neanderthals
#10Presumably this hypothesis is meant to explain why there is this observed asymmetry in the type of Neanderthal DNA we find in modern human populations that contain them, which is entirely autosomal. With none in the mitochondrial form, which is exclusively passed down along the female line, and also none in the Y-chromosome form, which is exclusively passed down along the male line. Without weighing on the validity o…
why no mitochondrial then?