Steamy gene pool: Extinct human relatives had sex with mystery ancestor
Ancient hominids were a frisky bunch that freely interbred with genetically distant human-ish relatives, as well as with closely related members of their own groups, according to new research.
A close read of the genomes of our ancient cousins the Neanderthals and a more distantly related hominid group, the Denisovans, throws up incriminatory evidence that the two "archaic" lines mated with each other, and with humans, much more than scientists had previously understood, Nature News reports. They've also found evidence that a third mystery ancestor interbred with the Denisovan group at some point in their history.
No one knows what the Denisovans looked like, and only a few fossils including a stub of a young girl's pinkie bone have been found at a single cave in the Altai region in Russia. From this ancient genome researchers say they've found genetic evidence of an even older human ancestor, from Asia, that has not been documented.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/steamy-gene-pool-extinct-human-relatives-had-sex-mystery-ancestor-2D11623882