Scientists say DNA evidence indicates male Neanderthals and human females interbred more often than opposite
Tens of thousands of years ago, as modern humans migrated into northerly territories inhabited by our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, the two species met – and sometimes mated.
Now, genetic evidence has revealed a striking imbalance in these prehistoric trysts, suggesting that interbreeding was mostly between male Neanderthals and female humans.
This ancient mating pattern, they have concluded, explains why Neanderthal DNA is largely missing from the human X chromosome.
“We found a pattern indicating a sex bias: gene flow occurred predominantly between Neanderthal males and anatomically modern human females,” said Dr Alexander Platt, a senior research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and first author of the research.
