Question for those knowledgeable about human evolution. How credible do you find the claim that the Lagar Velho Child was a humanderthal (human-neanderthal hybrid)?
As I understand it, the skeleton has what appears to be a blend of human features with a robust build more typical of Neanderthals. There's a detailed explanation here - this guy appears to be some kind of Old Earth Creationist so I'm a little wary of anything on that sight, but from what I can tell most of his analysis looks reasonable.
Genetic studies suggest Neanderthals probably didn't contribute to the modern human gene pool, but maybe the hybrids were sterile, like mules? After all, even if they were different species, they were very closely related (only diverged around half a million years ago or less - ref.). How common is hybridization in such closely related species? I know you see it in species that are probably a lot less closely related (check out camas - yes, you can crossbreed a llama and a camel!).
The Lagar Velho Child: Humanderthal?
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
Re: The Lagar Velho Child: Humanderthal?
Red and grey wolves mate with coyotes in the wild, as do domestic dogs. There are also a few cases of lions and tigers mating with leopards. So it's not only possible, but likely that at some point humans might have boinked (or been boinked by) neandethals, Java Man or Heidelberg Man and produced live offspring.
