All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
17 02, 2016

Ancient Gene Flow Between Modern Humans and Neanderthals

By | February 17th, 2016|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Humans and Neanderthals Interbred “100,000” Years Ago

Previous research has demonstrated that modern humans (Homo sapiens) interbred with Neanderthals outside Africa from between 65,000 and 47,000 years ago.  As a result, many of us “modern people”, especially those from Europe and Asia, contain a little bit of ancient Neanderthal DNA in our genome.  However, in a new study, published in the journal “Nature” the genomes of a Neanderthal woman and a third species of ancient hominin, a Denisovan, obtained from fragmentary fossil material found in the remote Altai Mountains of Siberia, suggests that interbreeding between Neanderthals and our species took place much earlier than previously thought.  No modern human genetic mixing was detected in the Denisovan genome.

A Neanderthal – Interbreeding Between the Species 100,000 Years Ago

Model of a Neanderthal man.

Early resident of Croatia.  A model of a Neanderthal man.

For models and replicas of ancient hominins and other figures: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Figures.

Encountering Neanderthals

It had been suggested that our species first began encountering Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) as modern humans began to migrate out of northern Africa into the Middle East and Europe sometime around 65,000 years ago.  This new study suggests “hanky-panky” took place between these species much earlier, as the genetic fingerprints don’t lie, it seems that a few of our African ancestors must have left their homelands a lot earlier, some 35,000 years earlier to be exact.  Or did some Neanderthals move into Africa and encounter humans, interbreed and then these descendants migrated out into Asia?

The lack of Neanderthal tool technology and fossil evidence casts doubt on this particular idea, it seems more likely that modern humans migrated out of their African homelands much earlier than previous research had indicated.

Examining Fossil Remains

The international team of researchers, which included scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany) sequenced the Siberian fossil remains and compared them to the sequences of chromosome 21 from two Neanderthal specimens, one from Spain, the other from Croatia.  This new study finds that a population that diverged early from other modern humans in Africa contributed genetically to the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains some 100,000 years ago.  No genetic contribution was detected in the two European Neanderthals or indeed within the Denisovan genome.  This research indicates that in addition to later interbreeding events, the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains and early modern humans mingled and interbred, possibly in the Near East.

Commenting on the importance of this discovery and its implications for our own evolution, Dr. Sergi Castellano (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) stated:

“It is significant for understanding the history of modern humans and Neanderthals.”

Earlier Human Migration Out of Africa

The genetic evidence suggests that early modern humans must have migrated out of Africa in significant numbers much earlier than 65,000 years ago.  It is not clear what impact the genetic contribution of our species had on the Neanderthals.  If interbreeding was taking place it can be assumed that there must have been other forms of contact between these two species, perhaps simple bartering and the exchange of ideas, or perhaps one group raided the other and stole females away.  This sort of behaviour has been recorded in hunter-gather populations and within chimpanzee populations.

Scientists Working in the Remote Cave where the Denisovan Material was Found

Excavation work in the cave.

Excavation work in the cave.

Picture credit:  Bence Viola

Professor Chris Stringer, an expert in the evolution of hominins, based at the London History Museum explained:

“I think that anywhere in southern Asia could theoretically have been the location of this early interbreeding, since we really don’t know how widespread Neanderthals and early modern humans might have been in the regions between Arabia and China at this time.”

The professor added:  “May be one group adopted the abandoned or orphaned babies of the other.  Eventually, geneticists should be able to show if the transfer of DNA in either direction was mainly via males, females, or about equal in proportion, but it will need a lot more data before that becomes possible.”

17 02, 2016

Dinosaur Notebook to Encourage Writing

By | February 17th, 2016|Early Years Foundation Reception, General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Dinosaur Notebook to Encourage Writing

A5 Dinosaur Notebook

New in stock at Everything Dinosaur is this super, child-friendly, dinosaur themed notebook.  Helping to encourage children with their hand-writing is one of the principle aims of Everything Dinosaur and this eighty page notebook, with built in ruler and ball point pen has got all our dinosaur experts excited.

 Note Down Your Dinosaur Discoveries Here

Dinosaur notebook

A dinosaur notebook.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Notebook

Ideal for young dinosaur fans, this prehistoric animal themed notebook has illustrations of iconic fossils on the front.  One of the budding young palaeontologists stated that there was “definitely a skull Tyrannosaurus rex” and who are we to argue.  This is a super quality notebook made from recycled materials.  It is great for encouraging writing and great for the environment too.

The front cover (that features the dinosaur skulls), is made from recycled cardboard and the inner pages (80 lined pages), are also made from recycled kraft paper.  At a weight of 80 gsm, the paper is the same weight as most sheets used in schools, so they make an excellent writing medium.  A ballpoint pen is included in the notebook set, it is held securely in place on the inside of the back cover, so there is no chance of this pen getting misplaced.

The pen in our set was black ink and the children had no problems at all writing with it.  The plastic part of the pen is also made from 90% recycled materials, so we can tick the environmentally friendly box with this item, that’s for sure.

Helping to Encourage Writing

The children found the pen easy to grip and the lines on the pages were just about the right spacing to help the children with their note taking, making the writing legible.  One of our younger testers was able to use the notepaper without any problems, carefully ensuring a finger space between each of the words that they had written.  There were lots of lovely examples of writing produced, and it was pleasing to see some excellent punctuation too, not just capital letters and full stops but commas and even one example of quotation mark usage.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of dinosaur themed school stationery and other products: Prehistoric Animal Toys and Gifts.

Dinosaur Notebook to Encourage Writing

This new A5-sized dinosaur notebook has been added to our portfolio of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed writing materials, notebooks and notepads, part of the extensive school themed range from Everything Dinosaur.  Ideal for young dinosaur fans to help encourage them with their school work.  Take a dinosaur to school or out on your own dinosaur hunting adventures with dinosaur themed stationery.  Part of the extensive range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed school products including dinosaur stationery, dinosaur lunch bags, backpacks, pens and pencils, just about everything a young palaeontologist needs for school.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

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