Re:Too many species have been lumped together into Homo sapiens
by inglor_cz on Sunday December 05, 2021 @12:06PM
(#29450733)
Even if we limited ourselves to the Homo genus, the rule does not work well.
Based on the admixtures of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in modern humans, we once had a lot of sex with those other humans (and they with us), resulting in fertile offspring, but the differences between us and them are pretty meaningful and probably worthy of not considering us and them just subspecies of the same species.
For example, Neanderthals probably could not vocalize in the same way that we do; and being capable of speaking is quite an important distinction. They had very different anatomy, including that of important joints (shoulders).
Based on the admixtures of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA in modern humans, we once had a lot of sex with those other humans (and they with us), resulting in fertile offspring, but the differences between us and them are pretty meaningful and probably worthy of not considering us and them just subspecies of the same species.
For example, Neanderthals probably could not vocalize in the same way that we do; and being capable of speaking is quite an important distinction. They had very different anatomy, including that of important joints (shoulders).