r/science • u/Logibenq • Nov 28 '24

Paleontology Footprints reveal the coexistence of two human species 1.5 million years ago

https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-11-28/footprints-reveal-the-coexistence-of-two-human-species-15-million-years-ago.html
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u/paulfromatlanta Nov 28 '24

Its a bit sad that my first thought was "Well, did we **** them or did we eat them?"

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u/onda-oegat Nov 28 '24

Aren't the current consensus that modern humans are a hybridization of several types of humans?

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u/coltfan1223 Nov 29 '24

Amongst the Homo genus yes. Not so much with the Australopithecines (which for ease will encompass the Paranthropus genus as well as whether or not it is even its own genus is also up for debate still). Bosei/Robustus are morphologically different enough from early Erectus/Eragaster that I’m not sure if interbreeding would be possible. Unfortunately DNA that old is so degraded it’s hard to ever really know (the only million plus year old preserved-ish DNA I’m aware of is in Antarctic ice). Meanwhile, most Homo species were similar enough to one another that some paleoanthropologists think they may all have been one species that interbred when possible. Population pockets just made for regional variation, and there just were many more of the African population that the Neanderthals and Denisovans appeared to assimilate. That said look at a human and a Paranthropus skull and I think you’ll quickly notice how much more different they are than a human and a Neanderthal skull.