A Denisovan/Neanderthal child

Svante Pääbo, also an employee of Max Planck Institute, said in an interview with The Evening Standard that it is striking for them to find a Denisovan/Neanderthal child among the many ancient individuals whose genomes were sequenced. In addition, he stated that Denisovans and Neanderthals might not have had a handful of opportunities to meet. Still, whenever they did, they probably mated frequently– much more than researchers previously thought they would.

Given the genetic variation in ancient humans, researchers only inferred that Denisovans and Neanderthals might have bred with each other until Slon and her team discovered such offspring. Although it’s entirely possible that the discovery was a lucky break to some degree, scientists are considering other explanations, including the conclusion that the two species of hominin most probably interacted and interbred with each other regularly. If this theory is deemed true, it will change our former understanding of the ancient world.