DNA From Prehistoric Teenager Uncovers An Ancient Human Hybrid
BERLIN, Germany (CBSNewYork) – Researchers in Germany say they have proof that a prehistoric teenager had parents who were members of two different species of pre-humans.
Scientists used DNA from a 90,000-year-old bone fragment found in Siberia. The tests found that while the girl's mother was a Neanderthal, her father came from a recently discovered species.
"We've long known that these kind of mixing happened. There's been hints in both ancient and modern DNA that suggest our ancient ancestors kind of interbred, but this is actually, like, catching it in the act," Maya Wei Hass of National Geographic told CBS News' Charlie D'Agata.
The father is reportedly from a relatively unknown branch of the prehistoric family - the Denisova - named after those Siberian caves.
The tiny fossils from the teenager reveal a Neanderthal-Ddenisovan love child. A human hybrid.
"I was extremely surprised. I was sure that we had screwed something up in the laboratory for the longest time until they proved to me that they hadn't," Svante Paabo, an evolutionary genetics biologist explained.
Researchers say the fact that they were able to stumble upon a direct offspring in that cave suggests that the "hanky panky" between our ancestral cousins must have gone on much more than was previously thought.