red hair neanderthal image
tangerine
I was just wondering, because I just read an article about Neanderthals having red hair. In the article, it's mentioned that modern-day descendants of Celts often have red hair. Are all red-haired people of Celtic extraction?
Answer
nope . . . this is funny since i just answered another question relating to red hair.
"National Geographic, however, estimates that 2% of the world's population are redheads (September, 2007). It occurs mainly in northern and western European populations, and their descendants, and at low frequencies throughout other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair
red hair is often found in Celtic populations, but it's certainly not limited to them. it's been found in China, Japan, Iran, Russia, the Nordic countries, Ashkenazi Jews, the South Pacific & Africa. most of these people are in no way related to the Celts, nor can they all be ruled out by random genetic mutations.
". Eighty percent of redheads have a MC1R gene variant,[10] and the prevalence of these alleles is highest in Scotland and Ireland"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair#Biochemistry_and_genetics
so while Celts do have a higher than average tendency towards being red-heads, it isn't limited to them.
~~~ morgannia
nope . . . this is funny since i just answered another question relating to red hair.
"National Geographic, however, estimates that 2% of the world's population are redheads (September, 2007). It occurs mainly in northern and western European populations, and their descendants, and at low frequencies throughout other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair
red hair is often found in Celtic populations, but it's certainly not limited to them. it's been found in China, Japan, Iran, Russia, the Nordic countries, Ashkenazi Jews, the South Pacific & Africa. most of these people are in no way related to the Celts, nor can they all be ruled out by random genetic mutations.
". Eighty percent of redheads have a MC1R gene variant,[10] and the prevalence of these alleles is highest in Scotland and Ireland"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair#Biochemistry_and_genetics
so while Celts do have a higher than average tendency towards being red-heads, it isn't limited to them.
~~~ morgannia
How would Neanderthals evolved if they did not go extinct?
Rudy
If Neanderthals overpowered humans and they did not go extinct and continued to evolve, how would it function, look, and would it be smarter then us?
Also, if we were to breed humans that shared genetic code could we create a neanderthal hybrid offspring?
Answer
It's impossible to know, since it didn't happen, but it's thought that Neanderthals would have been of stockier build, would have had red hair, and would have spoken with more nasally voices. Otherwise, they were pretty comparable to archaic homo sapiens sapiens, and had they survived instead of modern humans, they probably would have evolved pretty comparably.
The notion that Neanderthals were "smarter" than us is a bit of a misunderstanding, actually. Neanderthals had a slightly higher cranial capacity than Homo sapiens sapiens, but this would not have made them "smarter" necessarily. Size alone does not account for cognitive ability. Einstein, for instance, had an average-sized cranial capacity. Artifactual evidence suggests if anything that Neanderthals were less adept at making tools than homo sapiens sapiens, as their tools tended to be less well-developed and as they never managed to create the atlatl, or spear thrower, which would have allowed them to hunt game from far away. As it was, Neanderthals had to come close up to animals if they wanted to hunt, which resulted in a lot of fractures and possibly deaths.
As to the question of genetics:
It's probable that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sapiens had the biological ability to interbreed. The taxonomy, however, is under debate. Some scientists feel that Neanderthals represent a separate species of the genus Homo, others label Neanderthals only a subspecies of Homo Sapiens, and still others claim that Neanderthals represent only local variations on Homo Sapiens. There is some evidence of interbreeding, but none of it is fool proof. There are several skeletons that appear to have traits from both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, but there is always variation within a species and phenotype is not proof of genotype. More persuasively, however, the Neanderthal genome has been mapped within the last two years or so and does show that European and Asian populations do share some DNA with Neanderthals. It's thought that this is because Neanderthals and homo sapiens interbred when both (sub)species inhabited the Middle East area. However, it's possible that the shared DNA just represents the shared ancestry that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens had.
It's impossible to know, since it didn't happen, but it's thought that Neanderthals would have been of stockier build, would have had red hair, and would have spoken with more nasally voices. Otherwise, they were pretty comparable to archaic homo sapiens sapiens, and had they survived instead of modern humans, they probably would have evolved pretty comparably.
The notion that Neanderthals were "smarter" than us is a bit of a misunderstanding, actually. Neanderthals had a slightly higher cranial capacity than Homo sapiens sapiens, but this would not have made them "smarter" necessarily. Size alone does not account for cognitive ability. Einstein, for instance, had an average-sized cranial capacity. Artifactual evidence suggests if anything that Neanderthals were less adept at making tools than homo sapiens sapiens, as their tools tended to be less well-developed and as they never managed to create the atlatl, or spear thrower, which would have allowed them to hunt game from far away. As it was, Neanderthals had to come close up to animals if they wanted to hunt, which resulted in a lot of fractures and possibly deaths.
As to the question of genetics:
It's probable that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sapiens had the biological ability to interbreed. The taxonomy, however, is under debate. Some scientists feel that Neanderthals represent a separate species of the genus Homo, others label Neanderthals only a subspecies of Homo Sapiens, and still others claim that Neanderthals represent only local variations on Homo Sapiens. There is some evidence of interbreeding, but none of it is fool proof. There are several skeletons that appear to have traits from both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, but there is always variation within a species and phenotype is not proof of genotype. More persuasively, however, the Neanderthal genome has been mapped within the last two years or so and does show that European and Asian populations do share some DNA with Neanderthals. It's thought that this is because Neanderthals and homo sapiens interbred when both (sub)species inhabited the Middle East area. However, it's possible that the shared DNA just represents the shared ancestry that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens had.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Title Post: Do all red-haired people have Celtic ancestry?
Rating: 92% based on 976 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Yukie
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
Rating: 92% based on 976 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Yukie
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment