Interbreeding between Denisovans and Neanderthals

In 2018, Slon revealed in the London newspaper The Evening Standard that she and her team knew from previous studies that Denisovans and Neanderthals must have had children together. Still, she never thought they would be so fortunate enough to find an offspring of the two different species. Upon hearing what she said, geneticist David Reich of Harvard University also agreed.

In an interview with National Geographic, Reich said that it’s amazing to be able to discover something like this genetic breakthrough. He added that it seemed unlikely that they would be able to witness it happening in the act: a child that is indeed the offspring of a first-generation hybrid. The discovery was unpredictable, so much so that it has raised a lot of questions about how common such interbreeding was. To their credit, they were able to unlock that very rare case.