ENV100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Neanderthal Extinction, Population Bottleneck, Pleistocene

• School: UTSG
• Department: School of Environment
• Course: ENV100H1
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Do not have very many similar species still around due to competitiveness. Big brains compared to our ancestors which made us dominant competitors: speech function, hand control, vision. Slowed down our development (baby face and large cranium) If you are not of african descent, you probably have some neanderthal dna. Competitors but we also bred with them. 1% to 4% of dna derived from neanderthal. Competition from homo sapines probably contributed to neanderthal extinction. No close relatives anymore probably because we killed most of them off. Very little genetic differentiation underlying racial differences. Very homogeneous compared to other species: could be a bottleneck that reduced population. Cerain traits are recent adaptations that have arisen to new environments (ex. Homo sapiens evolved to anatomically modern humans in africa. Some left africa and replaced other types of humans. Made it to new guinea and australia 50 000 years ago. Took longer to get to the new world.