Not exactly relevant to VCE (although the placement of Denisovans into the evolutionary tree is) but I thought some of you might find this interesting.
Tl;drPart of a leg bone has been discovered from an ancient teenage girl. Her DNA indicates that she had a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan (with traces of Neanderthal) father.
This is the first time that bone from a first generation hybrid has been found (traces of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA has been found in some human populations)
"Now we've got evidence ... they would interbreed at a level suggesting that they might probably be considered the same species."
They may not even be Neanderthals or Denisovans, said Michael Westaway, also from Griffith University.
"It makes you wonder if the Denisovans' genomes aren't simply Homo erectus [another earlier species of human, also known as Java man]," said Dr Westaway
ABC articleNational geographic article (a bit more scientific)Nature journal (behind a paywall)
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