The Homo Sapiens species is the species to which all modern human beings on this very planet belong to. 200,000 …show more content…
They are believed to have been a species in the genus homo that became extinct 40,000 years ago. Scientists also believe that we share DNA with them and that we’re closely related to them. An interesting fact about the species is that during their time, they made and used a diverse set of tools, were able to control fire, made and wore clothing, were skilled at hunting, and would occasionally create symbolic objects.
One similarity between the Neanderthal species and the Homo sapiens species is that scientists believe we share 99.7% of their DNA or carry at least some portion of it. This basically means that us, homo sapiens, have Neanderthal within each of us. According to a new study that inspects traces of Neanderthal DNA in current-day humans, “Neanderthals may have been interbreeding with some of the ancestors of modern Eurasians as recently as 37,000 years ago.” Another recent study found that most people of South American and Asian descent obtain an even larger percentage of Neanderthal genes. Another group, publishing last year in Science, for example, determined that modern humans actually gained from being related to Neanderthals. Apparently, we have a family of genes that helps the immune system fight off viruses all because of …show more content…
When compared to homo sapiens, Neanderthals were shorter in height and smaller in size. They were much broader and sturdily built. To give some perspective, the average man is in the USA is 1.76 meters and the average height of a Neanderthal, based on fossil records available, was just 1.6 meters. Homo sapiens also had a contrary difference in form and structure when compared to Neanderthals. Especially when it came to their skulls and teeth. Neanderthals as well had a relatively vast rib cage while the rib cage of a Homo sapien was smaller.
Another difference was in the amount of calorie intake each species took in. In comparison to modern humans, the Neanderthal needs for energy were around 100 to 350 more in a just a day. What played a big role in the extinction of Neanderthals is when food suddenly became difficult to find or to obtain. Their teeth only took a short period of time to fully grow, which was a helpful indicator of somatic development. This also includes the fact that they matured or grew even faster than their intermediate ancestors. A paleoanthropologist at George Washington University stated, “They probably need about another 600 or 700 calories a day more than a modern human to feed their hardier bodies.”
A third difference that distinguishes the two species is the fact that