Strong reproductive isolation between humans and Neanderthals inferred from observed patterns of introgression. Author Affiliations Edited by Svante Pääbo, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, and approved August 3, 2011 (received for review May 10, 2011) Abstract Recent studies have revealed that 2–3% of the genome of non-Africans might come from Neanderthals, suggesting a more complex scenario of modern human evolution than previously anticipated.
In this paper, we use a model of admixture during a spatial expansion to study the hybridization of Neanderthals with modern humans during their spread out of Africa. We find that observed low levels of Neanderthal ancestry in Eurasians are compatible with a very low rate of interbreeding (<2%), potentially attributable to a very strong avoidance of interspecific matings, a low fitness of hybrids, or both.
Footnotes Author contributions: M.C. and L.E. designed research; M.C. performed research; M.C. and L.E. analyzed data; and M.C. and L.E. wrote the paper. The Animal Connection and Human Evolution (Pat Shipman) Current Anthropology Volume 51, Number 4, August 2010Tuesday Jun 29 2010 11:58 AM/CA300269/2010/51/4/hensleys/ritterd/ritterd/QC1 complete/use-graphics/narrow/default/ (Chaney 2008). In both the United States and Australia, 63%of households include pets, compared with 43% of Britishand 20% of Japanese households.
In the United States, theproportion of households with pets is larger than those withchildren. The number of dogs in Japan exceeds that of chil-dren under the age of 12.Companion animals significantly affect and improve hu-man health cross-culturally (Anderson, Reid, and Jennings1992; Beck and Meyers 1996; Headey and Grabka 2007;Headey and Krause 1999; Headey et al. 2003; Serpell 1991).Pet-owning and pet-assisted therapies benefit handicapped,elderly, autistic, mentally ill, and criminal individuals (e.g. ,Chandler 2005; Cusak 1984; Fine 2006; Salotto2001).Further,a truly enormous number of modern humans choose to livein intimate association with animals. . $186 million in China( Homo.
Our Neandertal Brethren: Why They Were Not a Separate Species. The Neandertal Genome. Ancient DNA From Siberia Fingers a Possible New Human Lineage --