<p>I don’t think our current views on inter-species sex (other than the Star Trek kind) can be generalized to prehistoric times.</p>
<p>There are no species anywhere near as closely related to us as these various hominid species were related to each other. Mating with a member of another species might not have seemed particularly freaky – especially to people who had never heard of the concept “species.”</p>
<p>I can easily imagine a prehistoric traveler or two visiting a community of people different from themselves, learning their culture, becoming accepted into the community, mating a local person, and having children. Would it really have mattered all that much if the community they joined was a culturally different community within their own species or a community of people of a very closely related species?</p>
<p>I imagine that there were probably bands of various closely related species coexisting, sometimes peacefully, other times less peacefully.</p>
<p>I also imagine that there were prehistoric interspecies wars, possibly including a war to end all wars where humans vanquished all other related species.</p>
<p>Note the objections, as highlighted in the Times article. I’m skeptical but willing to be convinced. Remember, these are statistical analyses of material whose reliability is questionable. Consider, for example, the recent stories about the DNA of James Watson, the DNA nobel winner; his DNA shows he should be deaf and blind so somewhere there is an error, either in the material, in the way it was recorded or in our understanding of what it means.</p>
<p>We were just watching a show on Animal Planet - River Monsters!
“Hunting Pacu in Africa” , but when we got home we read that they are now in Illinois.</p>
<p>Apparently created by lesbian atheists. :rolleyes:
Not sure if this site is for real </p>
<p>Toblin, your link really freaked IE out, making it open a ton of windows.</p>
<p>What i was going to say was that it is certainly possible for this to have happened. It could account to some of the odd features found in some sites.</p>
<p>If it’s on the internet it’s true. And I’ve heard they’ve been found in the lakes and streams in and around the more conservative towns in New Jersey.</p>
<p>In one of Jane Goodall’s books, she talks about how she observed an adolescent chimpanzee and an adolescent baboon have sex. Just two hormone-crazed adolescents trying to relieve some pent up sexual frustration, since they weren’t really old enough to be considered “seriously” contenders for mating in their actual species family groups. Female chimp and male baboon, IIRC.</p>
<p>Netflix streaming: TedTalks, Ancient Clues, Episode two, Svante Paabo talks about DNA clues to our Inner Neanderthal. Watched it last night. V. interesting. </p>
<p>Also there is the concept of an ecocline: there is variation in nature. The variation exists in populations. As you move geographically across a species’ range there will be subspecies forming from that variation - certain types do better in different parts of the range. If something happens to isolate a population from interbreeding with the rest of the population, speciation can occur. <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cline_(biology[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cline_(biology)</a> Then if something happens to get the populations together again interbreeding can occur.</p>
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