Another Species of Human? The Truth About Denisovans

Did you know that homo sapiens were not the only type of ancient "human" to exist? During most of the past 2 million years or so, there were several species of hominids on Earth at any given time. You probably know the Neanderthals, but since 2010 we’ve been uncovering evidence of another mysterious cousin that we lived alongside, the Denisovans! Join Hank Green and learn more in this new episode of SciShow!
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[@dennisvance4004]

My middle initial is not “O”. That would be somewhat disturbing.

[@craigcorson3036]

It would also indicate a rather sophisticated sense of humor on the part of your parents. What a pity; they could have called you Dennis Otto, or Oliver, or Orville.

[@bingbonghafu]

O g l e t h o r p e

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

*casually takes Dennis' DNA sample*

[@zappawench6048]

r/beetlejuicing

[@nedisahonkey]

@@craigcorson3036 Well unless he's 9 years old or younger it's unlikely that his parents would've even been able to make that joke considering when it was discovered. Maybe Dennis can make it up to us by turning his son's name into a Denisovan pun.

[@ninow5]

An indegenous tribe in the Philippines (Aetas) was found to have the most denisovan DNA in the world, about 5%. 30 to 40% more than the Papuans and Australians.

[@rondonalves2897]

Bajau people (who live between fipilipines, malaysia, indonesia) have high concentration of denisovan genes, also related to their capacity of staying longer under the sea level and diving for much longer.

[@robinchesterfield42]

So...doing better with less oxygen available in general, then. Makes sense. So, since Guybrush Threepwood can hold his breath for ten minutes, does that mean he's part Denisovan? ;)

[@tegamingother]

No they are aliens

[@kunstnersjael]

Interesting, I didn't know that, thanks

[@Danfunnyman1234]

Sometimes evolution feels like a videogame... "You must reach immune system level 5 to enter this region"

[@timan2039]

A holographic universe

[@jackielinde7568]

Funny you should mention this. There is a channel that teaches about nature by framing it as if we live in a giant MMO: TierZoo kzbin.info/door/HsRtomD4twRf5WVHHk-cMw

[@HShango]

funny i imagine that's how immune system feels, well i don't even if they feel anything, welp 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@Dragrath1]

@@jackielinde7568 Oh so that is what that is all about I've been confused about those comments and recommendations >_>

[@arthas640]

Didnt stop the injuns sticking around north america after they raised the difficulty levels

[@jonathanrumley8724]

Hi Hank! How likely is it that there are Denisovan fossils in museum collections that are mislabeled?

[@nerine9301]

That's a great question. How about it Hank?

[@Ratchet4647]

Museums have huge collections brought back from SO many expeditions where SO many specimens were recovered. There's probably alot of specimens with no labels, plus the ones that are mislabeled due to lack of knowledge.

[@WillArtie]

@@Ratchet4647 wow - i wonder what amazing things are just sitting in those broad museum drawers that we haven't identified correctly yet - right under our noses!

[@nerine9301]

@@Ratchet4647 that is true. If they went back and looked...it would be a huge job, though!

[@heatherkaye8653]

Have you heard about the Sylvia's Leaf Frog discovery story? They ended up finding that an old specimen was wrongly labeled and was in fact a different and unmanned species unnoticed until recently. It's worth looking up! It really makes you think "what if" for many things!

[@NerdOutWithMe]

So.... early human history was closer to Middle Earth than we once thought.

[@youngw1ze]

Lord of the Rings was a documentary...

[@Kinobambino]

@@youngw1ze lol

[@trlyons761]

Lol! Thats definitely true in the sense that back then many races inhabited earth. While today we call each other different races but we are all so closely related scientists consider all humans alive today to be of the same race.

[@thesrilankanguy3652]

@J Smash Why so racist, its not white people. Its just happens to be more caucasians to be telling these "sciences". They are not bs but neither are they fully right.

[@thesrilankanguy3652]

@J Smash I don't understand what your saying. Are you saying DNA is supposed to tell everything? Cause DNA changes drastically or morphs every 500,000 years. Half of it isn't accurate anymore. Science is simply understanding universal funtion, or some may say divinity. And this still doesn't explain why you are so racist to caucasians. Modern white individuals have nothing to do with what their ancestors did, they already live with the pain. Imagine how hard it must be nit being able to be proud of your ancestors or who you are.

[@Adam-wl8wn]

You're correct, it is Den"ee"sovans. This is because in the Latin alphabet the cave is spelt 'Denísova'. The accented 'i' denotes a long sound hence the 'ee' pronunciation. It'll take a while for people to grasp, just look how many people still pronounce the 'th' in Neanderthal! Great video, I'm fascinated by Denisovans, it's such a mystery!

[@arnbrandy]

What, the th in Neanderthal is silent? I thought it would sound like /t/!

[@ESL-O.G.]

People pronounce it that way because they aren't scientists and 99% of the time TH makes what sound??

[@MerkhVision]

@@arnbrandy They didn’t say it’s silent, they just implied that it wasn’t pronounced with a “th” sound (like at the end of “with”). It’s probably pronounced “t” like you mentioned, and how Hank said it in this video.

[@Aconitum_napellus]

They could tell it was a Hominins finger bone by the shape of it and yet I couldn't be certain it wasn't an overcooked popcorn.

[@josephc3185]

Something Dreadful😂😂😂

[@MichaelMiller-rg6or]

The idea that there were once other species of humans that once lived along side us is so cool!

[@Mega_Mikey]

Michael Miller I know! I wish so bad they were still around, it’s such a fascinating thing. Especially for me cuz I’m on the higher end of having Neanderthal dna, 4%, so it’d be so cool to meet my ancestor who wasn’t a human

[@jaga9394]

@@Mega_Mikey With so much divisiveness, hate and racism that we show to our own species, Imagine what we would have done to another completely different species. Maybe that's why they aren't here anymore. Maybe we hunted them down to extinction back then.

[@youlleatamuffinandlikeit4596]

@@jaga9394 That's certainly a possibility. They did all go extinct within a certain period of making contact with us. Unfortunately, we'll probably never know for sure what factors led to the other species' extinctions.

[@PieALaMode]

Yes! I find it a little scary too though. Like @Jaga said... we would have only hurt them...

[@Andytlp]

@Zimmit's FunHouse Adventure Back then no. But disagreements due to superficial differences were prevalent since the dawn of time. We just invented a word to describe it. Ideally you'd want a world with only one skin color culture and religion but that is almost impossible.

[@mjl5901]

Always enjoy the Sci Show. Never too late to learn!

[@MrMortull]

Homo Sapiens Sapiens ("very wise man", modern humans), we're basically the "greatest hits" album of the Human family.

[@risyanthbalaji805]

Yeah mr ' Man wise man wise man'

[@riazhassan6570]

Well, we certainly think a lot of ourselves. One is not sure about the ‘wise-wise’ bit. We still drift into galloping stupidities all round the globe

[@Rebecca-wi8tl]

I'm really excited about this topic because I'm an archaeology student and I went to Tom Higham's talk about finding the Denisovan bone fragment and radiocarbon dating, and I have to say I love being an archaeology student.

[@jameshumphrey9939]

kool!

[@druid_zephyrus]

y'all pronouncing it wrong... It is pronounced Denise Ovens. She was a baker, and potentially discovered leavened bread...pretty sure.

[@californiaisland5537]

Matthew Koller In the 18th century, the cave was inhabited by an Old Believer hermit, Dyonisiy (Denis), and was named after him, while the indigenous Altay people call it Ayu-Tash (Bear Rock).[8]

[@markperalta7722]

Its dee-nice-ovans

[@usagisenpai3035]

nah its dee-nice

[@r.manolo261]

Lolll🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@seahawkfan1454]

🤣😂🤣

[@rickharold7884]

Awesome. Looking forward to learning more!! Thx!!

[@CaliforniaCarpenter7]

These Denisovans were evidently gigantic. When the female finger bone was found it was described as “unusually large and robust for a girl of such young age”. When the adult male Denisovan molar was found it was originally mistaken for a Cave Bear tooth until laboratory testing revealed it belonged to a Human. It is at least three times the size of an adult male Homosapien, and this, to me, does not merely represent “big teeth” but rather, gigantic Hominids. Also, the Chlorite bracelet that was found around the 50,000yr level wasn’t included in this video, but the complexity completely surprised the excavators and it is gloriously beautiful. Curved drill holes indicating high speed! How on Earth does that fit the mud hut and fish bone vision of our predecessors?

[@riazhassan6570]

The fossils might have belonged to freaks. If they were all giants and if their dna is found more among South East Asians than elsewhere, you might expect exceptionally tall and big people there, but this is not so.

[@riazhassan6570]

In fact, why are some African nations so short, and some so tall?

[@CaliforniaCarpenter7]

@@riazhassan6570 Feasible, but 50,000 years ago, a multitude of warm blooded animals that are still around were also gigantic. Bears, camels, deer, lions, beavers and on and on. Seems like a very warm Planet enables cold blooded reptiles to gain titanic stature and a cold Planet does the same for warm blooded creatures. The Denisovans, for their time, fit in perfectly with the motif. Africans like to breed within their tribe. South Sudanese tend to breed with South Sudanese and North Sudanese are physically very different even though they are in the same Country. But then I am not an academic. Just a guy with thoughts, and I appreciate yours!

[@riazhassan6570]

@@CaliforniaCarpenter7 Climate? Weather? A possibility, but as I raised in a previous question, why are, say, Pygmies so short while Southern Sudanese are so tall? The difference in climate is not dramatic enough to explain so much variation. And you get odd outliers in every nation, seven and eight footers who suffer from gigantism. Speculation about a whole sub-species from one or two fragments is interesting, but one feels a good few more samples are needed before generalizations can be hazarded

[@CaliforniaCarpenter7]

@@riazhassan6570 Even in an Ice Age, there would be variation. If my theory about cold climate encouraging large size is correct, then if the largest bred with the largest, then the smallest would be left to breed within their own groups. Look at primates, the biggest gorilla, bonobo, chimp, lemur usually fights his way to the top and has a monopoly on breeding rights. Couple this possibility with the fact that for every seventeen Human females who passed on their genes 8,000 to 13,000 years ago, only one male did. Sounds like the largest men became warlords and kidnapped the females after they killed all the males. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381518/ Pygmies come from the jungle, and South Sudan is in The Sahara Desert, the climate variation is huge.

[@joshuastreet8664]

One of my favorite topics from this channel 🤯 so fascinating learning about where we came from and how we came to be

[@uaenruotel]

it makes me wonder how many other species of hominins are also part of our genetic pool that we dont know about

[@beth8775]

I think there is speculation about the Javan pygmy species interbreeding with H.S.

[@TipTheScales27]

There for sure is one that interbred with ancient Africans!

[@mikaelzakan1929]

TipTheScales27 which one is it?

[@TipTheScales27]

Mikhail Beard We don’t know yet. Scientists have somehow figured out by studying African genes that they do in fact have « other » in them too! So fascinating

[@Mdebacle]

@@mikaelzakan1929 "this so-called “Altai” Neandertal inherited DNA from modern humans from Africa, including a gene that may have been involved in speech." www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/humans-mated-neandertals-much-earlier-and-more-frequently-thought If they realize a Neanderthal had African ancestry, they are only one step away from realizing all Neanderthals (and Denisovans) were a mixture of human and ape.

[@stephenwilliams163]

This question has been bothering me for a long time. I thought that an inability to interbreed and create fertile offspring was one of the defining characteristics of separate species. If present day humans carry Neanderthal and Denisovan genes, then doesn't that point to us all being the same species?

[@Ahmed-ef6ss]

Because species is a loosely defined word.

[@paulchallenor8675]

Lions, Tigers and Leopards are all classed as different species, and I think we could all agree that they are very different, yet they can still interbreed and have semi-fertile offspring (can only reproduce in certain combinations, not all combinations).

[@stephenwilliams163]

@@paulchallenor8675 I know that ligers exist, and mules are the result of breeding horses and donkeys, but to my knowledge those combinations of species are always infertile. Have I missed some information that proves this wrong?

[@paulchallenor8675]

@@stephenwilliams163 Ligers and Tigons and whatever the Leopard combinations are called can breed back with Lions and Tigers. See link: www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/animal-hybrids-ligers-and-tigons-and-pizzly-bears-oh-my-31133439/

[@stephenwilliams163]

@@paulchallenor8675 very cool. Thanks for sharing!

[@micahphilson]

Don't worry, Hank, I'll clear it up for you: "Dennis-ovans" are the male Denisovans, and "Denise-ovans" are the females.

[@jeksixten5751]

Hahahagagaga

[@FitzgeraldStanburyWeissV]

Haha

[@himssendol6512]

This needs more likes. 👍

[@kokroucz]

hahaha good one :)

[@planescaped]

The true pioneers of the Dennis System. Them Neanderthal/Homo Sapien women got Dennis'd.

[@peetapol]

A study shows the Ayta Magbukun - a Philippine ethnic group - has the highest known level of Denisovan ancestry in the whole world. Interesting.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

I appreciate that Hank mentioned the possibility of humans killing them off. Most people and academics speak as if that were not a possibility...

[@scalpingsnake]

Really? Is that based of evidence or do they prefer just to avoid the possibility?

[@paintballercali]

I always here every one blame us for killing every thing even with little evidence.

[@papa_pt]

yes just like humans have also killed off other humans of the same specie for millenia..... not hard to imagine

[@norml.hugh-mann]

We will one day be reclassified as a planetary disease because we do destroy everything

[@coolguyman16]

@@norml.hugh-mann As do invasive species in general. That's not necessarily unique to us. Look at how bad algae can screw over places for example.

[@SaintBroken]

Wait a second! Denisovan genes helped us adapt to high altitude and cold environments and are more common in SEA populations?? The Denisovans were the yeti!

[@ingridlorena33]

Possibly a mini yeti subset cos why then are people of that region so short ... yetis etc are 7feet +

[@melonoire]

Quite Interesting

[@MerkhVision]

Ayyy! Here’s another bit of evidence to add to this fun theory: another comment under this video mentioned that the Denisovan remains found, like teeth and finger bones, were abnormally large! So not only were these people able to survive in high altitudes and cold weather, but they may also have been a bit gigantic… sounds like Yetis to me!

[@10mmfan]

This video would have been much shorter if he would just say “At some point a few thousands of years ago, everyone started screwing around”.

[@GeneralPuppet]

If it has legs it's enough to breed-ancient humans

[@willmpet]

I had my genome done. I had the typical amount of Neanderthal genes, but I had twice as much Denisovan as typical.

[@TipTheScales27]

William Peterson Are you Asian?

[@88happiness]

I don't know wny, but I had thought we didn't procreate with Neanderthals. If they live on through us, they're not exactly extinct.

[@shauryaveerrajkumar3950]

@@88happiness Nah they're definitely extinct. You can't count 2% as the whole species.

[@soggybiscuitz5985]

@@shauryaveerrajkumar3950 Yep. We were hybridized into a new species

[@calladricosplays]

what test did you take? My professor said we can't do the test yet because we don't have their complete genome

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

I can't wait for the first complete skeleton!

[@darthfader733]

Almost done with mine.

[@chefdean7257]

Yes, you can & will.

[@keithharper32]

what if we already have it and don't know? After all, there are new fossils found in Asia, but without the DNA to show them to be denisovan we may not be able to make the connection

[@tecklahjames9968]

U can actually see live ones....or their grandchildren atleast. I'm from Papua New Guinea....woah, I was actually typing this line when he actually said Papua New Guinea. Anyway, yes, we are here. 😎

[@jameshumphrey9939]

sweet!

[@MrCelaneous]

This was totally fascinating, but am I the only one who finds it weird that Hank talks about Denisovans "interbreeding with our ancestors", when that literally means Denisovans _are_ our ancestors? "My great-grandmother interbred with my ancestors." Wha?

[@montycantsin8861]

No. I agree. If my ancestors bred with different ancestors, I am them. I suspect, from things I've studied, that I'm a little bit Neanderthal. Now, what I wanna know, is how do I put that on the Census form?

[@clintfischer1057]

Denisovans, evolved alongside other homo species, bred with our DIRECT ancestors, thus became part of our ancestrial line. But only until they bred, before that the species were from different lineage and clearly distinct.

[@FaaduProductions]

@@clintfischer1057 Denisovans also *are* our direct ancestors, although to a much lesser extent.

[@ProfezorSnayp]

@@FaaduProductions A large population of humans have no trace of either Denisovan or Neanderthal DNA. So they aren't ancestors to all of us.

[@FaaduProductions]

@@ProfezorSnayp I was talking in the context of those who do. Like East and South East Asians.

[@pritsingh9766]

4:56 Such mutations are also found in the North Indians living in the Himalayas near indo-tibetian border ....

[@shauryaveerrajkumar3950]

really? Cause most of the Indians living there are of different ethnicity from the Tibetan people

[@ramengurung9913]

Shauryaveer Rajkumar it’s Himalayan people such as us Nepalese, Tibetan, North-East Indian and Bhutanese

[@paintballercali]

I feel like people keep changing the pronunciations just to try and make the rest of us sound stupid.

[@JD96893]

English just has weird different vowels and a complete lack of accents causing more problems.

[@pacificswell]

There’s no difference than tomatoe or tomato: that’s all it is.

[@JD96893]

@@pacificswell exactly! No body said anything was wrong or right. It's just different ways of saying the same word.

[@travisbrown6814]

Thanks for lowering the IQ of humanity with your pointless bickering....

[@zes3813]

wrg, voice any nme s ok

[@BagaJr]

We literally just learned about Denisovans in my anthropology class, this is crazy timing to upload this lol

[@Red-jo2yu]

Your FBI agent gotta chill

[@jameshumphrey9939]

keep up the good work!

[@hugbug4408]

@@Red-jo2yu may b that persons insurance agent once he found out his client was a destitudevan.

[@jbrecken]

They live in high altitudes, are elusive and come from Asia - they're yetis!

[@nerinavshrestha3338]

That may explain the persistent myths of yeti in the Himalayas. May be homo sapiens encountered them millennia ago, intebreeding with some of them.

[@jrhermosura4600]

Possible origin

[@tegamingother]

@Nostalgia For Infinity u fool!

[@asysjr]

definivitely Airbenders.

[@pritsingh9766]

@@adammoore7059 why do you sniff people's butt?

[@elmohead]

Us: Damn, Tibet is kinda cold, unlike Africa. **Looks at a group of Denisovans** Us: Hello sexy, why are you wearing so little?

[@jackyzhu9761]

Denisovans: What? It’s hot as heck! Why would we use air conditioning when it’s not even real?

[@elmohead]

@Sum Guy Us as in Homo Sapiens.

[@MarioAlbertoMatamorosMoraga]

*cue to sexy saxophone music 🎶

[@arig220]

Me (tibetan): Hello there... ,':D -)---8=3-( wan sum frick?

[@siyacer]

Neanderthal Jack: Care to share?

[@cybeliandiamonds6445]

I wonder many of human adjacent mythological races can be attributed to the cultural memory of the other hominids?

[@tubeyhamster]

I bet a lot of them can.

[@ellemeier376]

'Mythological races'......

[@erinthesystem9608]

BRILLIANT question!! ~ Like the Minotaur having to do with the Minoan people being cannibals.. or the story of Cain and Abel being about the transition from nomadic to agrarian societies...

[@ThatGuyEclipz330]

Now you're looking in the right direction

[@originexplorers8536]

that's a really smart question!

[@miguelrodriguezcimino1674]

Suddenly, it feels a little bit like we're the Borg from Star Trek.... assimilating genetic traits from other species. Resistence is futile.

[@chefdean7257]

But persistence is virile. 😜

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

Many of our genes seem to have come from viruses. So yeah, exactly.

[@bigbysnow6306]

The borg r dumb hahaha

[@jameshumphrey9939]

we are Borg to our genes really :)

[@camerontaylor7471]

The human body has every single part of other creatures and life forms and elements within and without it... like our eye lashes look like legs of a insect, our brains look like a bundle of dead worms mushed together, our intensities looks like the body of a serpent, our sexual even have the same silhouette of other animals (male=elephants and fungi/mushrooms, female = deer/lobsters) etc etc

[@vidhi1239]

Thank you so much Sci show. I found about this very late but this really helped me understand Denisovans better!

[@HAL-cp4mt]

0:56 that smile, that damn smile.

[@Petty_Mason]

This is the second vid I’ve seen correcting the pronunciation of Denisovan thank you I find this important

[@TheTwick]

Denisovans signed a very long lease for that cave. Kind of an early form of rent control 🙄

[@montycantsin8861]

"Hey, you neanderkids! Get offa my laccolith!"

[@chronovore7234]

I bet one day we will be able to build a computer model of exactly what someone or something looked liked with sequenced DNA.

[@beth8775]

There is probably someone out there trying to work on it already. That would be pretty neat.

[@huldu]

"Killed all the rest" That seems about right. They probably had more shiny rocks than we did so they had to be killed.

[@shinobi1kenobi75]

She much?

[@tempesttking5715]

😂

[@VSM101]

Denisovans had sowing tools as well as drills with decorations with pendants.

[@olegshtolc7245]

More like food back then. We have switched to shiny stuff when we had enough food

[@annikboyer3395]

Love that kind of discovery!

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

Why are you calling them a different species when we interbred with them and produced fertile offspring?

[@chrisstrayer4323]

I was going to ask the same. I thought that concept was part of the definition and distinction of a species. If offspring can be produced the parents must be in the same species. Sci Show please educate me, even more. 🙂

[@kunjukunjunil1481]

Actually this "species" definition is quite vague and arbitrary . It is possible to create fertile offspring from different " species ".

[@otterylexa4499]

IIRC, there's something about isolated populations. A video about the definition of species would certainly be good if they don't have one already.

[@dinf8940]

species is completely contrived categorization that is applied very 'liberally', but regarding our 'species' its completely meaningless due to politics involved, its very easy to distinguish at least 3 distinct species within modern homo sapiens with fst distances so vast and so little continuity between them there wouldnt be any question about this were it pertained to any other species - those would be eurasians (caucasians and mongoloids have full continuity, so whilst fst distance here is less but still significant, differentiating between them as anything other than subspecies is unwarranted), africans and aboriginal australians

[@PieALaMode]

dogs and wolves *can* breed, lions and tigers *can* breed (albeit with a lot of human input)... there are always bound to be exceptions to rules. Especially ones so generalized

[@EloquentTroll]

Omg! I have looked all over for more information about the Denisovans, thank you for reporting on this. Do you have any good links for more?

[@Jamie-tk9dg]

Love this video!

[@legendaryrat]

I wonder if they may not have died out, but just got absorbed into our species.

[@SpazzyMcGee1337]

* ancient hominids meet for first time* Ancient Homo Sapiens: "We'll bang, okay."

[@Kritiker313]

Very informative video and an excellent presentation. Thanks!

[@adamkey1934]

The pronunciation of Denisovans depends on whether you're describing a male or female, obviously 🤷‍♂️

[@burbanpoison2494]

That's sexist.

[@Aconitum_napellus]

@@burbanpoison2494 No it's not.

[@Casual414]

Something Dreadful yes it is

[@儀水鏡の妖怪霊]

@@Casual414 Doesn't seem judgmental, just silly. Does it even matter then?

[@huycao9788]

Seems like people are not getting you clever joke Adam. Dennis=male; Denise=female

[@MichaelSmith-bl3px]

Very well made video. It's crazy how there aren't many bones/ fossils on them.

[@dylanwaites]

The next missing link will be called Denephewvans

[@hugbug4408]

That's a pisser!!Laughed 2 the bathroom!Sum things on u tube r better than tv comedy hrs.

[@Articulate99]

Always interesting, thank you.

[@joefish2177]

So you just gonna miss out the bracelet found in that cave too? Found with a perfectly drilled hole which we currently have very little idea on how they had the technology to drill it

[@foreverwantingpie]

Cool video!! I loved your perspective at the end too

[@anthonycastillo4673]

This is interesting because I've recently took a class at my college called Anthropology 101 where my professor discusses about denisovans about how they are relative to other humans in the wild jungles. (if I'm correct/correct me if I'm wrong.) But it was an interesting class.

[@limiv5272]

Great, maybe you could ask that professor why the denisovans and neanderthals are considered separate species when they can have fertile offspring with each other and with us

[@cronotosaur2881]

Dunno about Denisovans off the dome, but for Neanderthals they are considered a subspecies. Home sapian neanderthalensis. If Denisovans could interbreed with us then I imagine they'd have to be a subspecies as well

[@devilmonkey427]

​@@limiv5272 polar bears and grizzlies and several other animals can. Species that have some of their altered too far like us from the remaining great apes or several others will run into trouble like horses and donkeys.

[@Ratchet4647]

Limi V The species barrier isn't a hard barrier, sufficiently closely related species can sometimes achieve the production of viable offspring. Two closely related populations who can't reproduce with each other (thus being separate species) will have subgroups who have the right cocktail of genes to allow for a hybrid, these hybrids will allow useful traits to spread from one population to the other.

[@alexbowman7582]

The fact that Sapiens interbred with Denisovians pushes back by 1000’s of years the invention of alcohol and the phenomenon of beer goggles.

[@nosuchthing8]

Actually there is some evidence from ancient minoan that beer might have been extremely ancient. More like mead.

[@alexbowman7582]

@@nosuchthing8 it probably didn’t fossilise because it was drank before the opportunity.

[@coryman125]

"Everything we know about them comes from a few small bits of bone..." I guess that explains why we don't know how to pronounce their name? ;)

[@dinosaurusrex1482]

If this is a joke I don't get it

[@coryman125]

@Dabz The Payaso What part of making a joke is ignorant? Hank spent a good 30 seconds saying he got the pronunciation wrong and had to be corrected. I was simply making a joke about that. If anything, taking a KZbin comment literally when it ends with a winking face is ignorant :/

[@GiggityGretsch]

@Dabz The Payaso naw man. Ignorance is thinking we know so much from just a jawbone.

[@coryman125]

@Dabz The Payaso that's a very prescriptivist approach to joke making. Maybe you should consider that jokes can exist in multiple formats, some of which may not make sense to you? And maybe don't get so bothered by a harmless joking comment on KZbin?

[@Cynthia63636]

Just because you don't get it or don't think it's funny doesn't mean it isn't a joke.. not every joke has to be catered to your sense of humour. this joke is funny BECAUSE it isn't accurate.

[@Ping.DiKyngPyn]

Thank you for making this video I'm doing self research and this channel has answered some of the questions I've had Thank you again

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

_Cousins_ *Sweeeeet home Alabama*

[@rooseveltbrentwood9654]

Avery The Cuban-American Hey nice Puerto Rican flag bro :)

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Roosevelt Brentwood It’s the Cuban flag

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Justin Ethnostate I don’t even live in Puerto Rico. This is the Cuban flag. Secondly I live in NY and rather live here than Alabama

[@rejvaik00]

Uhh all modern day human populations are the result of incestuous breeding back in antiquity.

[@JMC992.9]

Hank is the best .

[@VeronicaGorositoMusic]

Denisova Cave was named after they've found an old man living there in the 1800's or whatever. He was an hermit, Dyonisiy (Denis), a modern russian solitaire man. Now do the maths relating on how to pronounce Denisovans.

[@anonym3967]

Maby he was the last Denisovan and that's why he lived in their cave all alone! :O

[@Killinemkid]

@@anonym3967 A Pixar movie sadder than Up

[@jameshumphrey9939]

not relevant or clearly understood for that matter words are words and only represent things and they this word does not represent Dennis

[@VeronicaGorositoMusic]

@@jameshumphrey9939 if not relevant, why your reply asks for?

[@MrControll]

So the same way you'd pronounce Denics'

[@anirban5262]

Nice information.... Very interesting n curiousity generating

[@feliksiwanggin3307]

In the island of Papua(New Guinea), most of the population live and thrive in the highland parts of the island. It explained denisovans trait. I might have to do the DNA test to see how much denisovans I have in my DNA since I am a Papuan.

[@amithabhbachchan]

Hey wantok, yu stap gut?

[@jumawan80]

👏

[@everettduncan7543]

It's said there may have been 3 denisovan species, one in Papua, another between it and the mountains of Asia, and the last in the cold and oxygen-poor areas to the north

[@humblesoldier5474]

Denisovans stare out at the world, and the sky. They loved everyone, and wished them well. They closed their eyes and said good bye ... thanks for the memories.

[@lolwuttup420]

Beautiful

[@GinamosWithCherryOnTop]

According to the news, tribes in the philippines has a higher dna similarities to the denisovans.

[@christianderbyshire744]

We need more !!!!! Please I'm so curious :)

[@gallgu624]

I love how he pronounces “Neanderthal” correctly.

[@mikel6668]

great video

[@zethcrownett2946]

"revealing pinky bone" just sounds so scandalous >,>

[@AnimilesYT]

You didn't point to the related videos. I'm using Theater Mode, which pushes those related videos down. And if I didn't watch it on my PC then I would've watched it on my phone. There it would've been under the video as well :p

[@camelopardalis84]

Is this a PBS Eons episode or is it just heavily based on said PBS Eons episode?

[@EurasiaOnYT]

Great video! 😊

[@vondumozze738]

"A cave in the life of Ivan Denisovan"

[@jameshumphrey9939]

we are all cave people at heart

[@danesilva1160]

good one

[@rev139ten3]

@@jameshumphrey9939 ooh no no we all are not...

[@ShaddyraddyNY]

Denisovans were vast mostly in Western Asia & the Pacific. Ethnicities such as Dravidians/South Asians, Southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans (darker ones) have high % of Denisovan DNA.

[@jackielinde7568]

What Hank is trying to say is, We, um..., interbred our way to dominance.

[@Master_Therion]

Make love, not war?

[@swedneck]

@@Master_Therion Make love, not war, because that's more effective.

[@fireriffs]

That's a nice gene you got the Mr. Denisovan. Mind if I add it to my species?

[@Master_Therion]

@@swedneck And more fun ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@JohnJohansen2]

This morning I feel so Denisovai!

[@WickedWildlife]

How about a video on the hobbit men of Indonesia Homo floresiensis

[@Piemasteratron]

Wow this is so amazing!

[@edsr164]

“Up until recently” ... thousands of years ago

[@paigevasquez8140]

Yep what scientists consider recent vs regular man recent

[@marcusimpresario7724]

Every time a paleontologist finds a piece of bone: He starts yellin': NEW SPECIES!!!

[@gusgrizzel8397]

It's soft science now. Lot's of speculation.

[@TheWindWhispers]

Isn't this a reupload? I feel like I've seen this video before.

[@tigershark132]

There was a video posted on PBS Eons titled "When We Met Other Human Species", also hosted by Hank, which mentioned the history of humans, including the Denisovans. Would this be the video you're thinking of?

[@disposeable4197]

The jaw bone he mentioned was found pretty recently, so I doubt it.

[@tigershark132]

Dispose Able It appears the jaw was mentioned in media at the beginning of May, whilst the video I mentioned is from only 3 weeks ago.

[@ZeldaboyOG]

I have been watching you since you have been doing vlog videos with your brother. Then like a decade later I found the McElroy brothers. When I saw you on their show I almost went supernova.

[@Victoria-dh9vb]

I wonder if there are samples out there that have been labeled as a known hominim that have not been DNA tested and are actually Donisovan. It could happen. The museums of the world are vast and numerous.

[@Qwertyuiop-bj8ry]

The Philippine ethnic group Ayta Magbukon has the highest proportion of genes from our extinct relatives, the Denisovans, a new study led by Uppsala University shows. Their Denisovan share far exceeds that of ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea, who previously held the record.

[@coder0xff]

How are they different species if they can have fertile offspring?

[@davlor86]

right, even "sub species" would sound more acceptable but humans always claim to be unique

[@riazhassan6570]

Apparently, that old definition of a species is being questioned nowadays

[@mljrotag6343]

Perhaps to add to our famous "Ape to Man" picture an illustration of Human, Neanderthal and Denisovan orgy would help get the point across.

[@lindaalbright255]

The Inuit are pretty far removed from the Melanesian and Australian Aborigines previously thought to be the only significant reservoir of of Denisovian DNA. The National Geographic genomic project gives as assessment of how much Denisovian DNA a person has, as well as the percentage of Neanderthal. It turns out that many Americans show a sometimes surprisingly high percentage of Denisovian DNA as well as the typical Neanderthal DNA ( 2 to 4 percent). This was the case for me, despite a fairly routine Northern European lineage. This is a BIG mystery! With the Neanderthal DNA the prevalence is due to both parents having inherited Neanderthal - but the Denisovian DNA was not thought to be ubiquitous in European populations. Thus, a significant Denisovian component would almost require a Denisovian ancestor within 6 generations given than the European population at large does not have significant Denisovian content -- hardly possible! This leads me to suspect a Tibetan - Inuit connection and later a Inuit - Native American contribution (they traveled south). However, the last I heard, the Native American populations does not show significant Denisovian DNA. However, Native American people resemble Tibetans much more than they do Chinese or Mongolian.

[@Player_Review]

I want to know where the Ainu people fit into the story.

[@emmamemma4162]

People from Northern Europe can have some Asian DNA. For example the Sámi and the Finns both descend from Siberia. And the Vikings traveled to Greenland. I suspect it could also be something of a hit or miss with how much Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA two people of similar descent might have. If most of your ancestors happened to get the "half" of the genetic material that had more of this DNA and then happened to pass that material on it might have accumulated randomly and not be due to one specific person in your ancestry.

[@lindaalbright255]

Random accumulation is something like random coin tosses -- over many generations it generally averages out to no accumulation over the base level in the population. In order for "random accumulation" to exist, there would have to be some sort of "attractor", such as similar prototypes (or psychologies) for people carrying the Denisovian component, coupled with the psychological "attractor" of "birds of a feather stick together".

[@emmamemma4162]

@@lindaalbright255 I think you're right about the leveling out of genetic differences within populations, and I found your comment very interesting. However, when I think of Northern Europe some isolated places and people come to mind. Just like we have the prevalence of redheads in Ireland, or the prevalence of Aspartylglucosaminuria (an inborn error of metabolism) in Finland, I feel some populations in Northern Europe could have a higher-than-average amount of Denisovian DNA.

[@lindaalbright255]

There could be isolated populations, but in my case it is basically U.K. (maternal) and german (paternal), plus at least in the paternal case, the line has been in the American "melting pot" since the 1700's. I am not sure of how long my maternal line has been here, as there is little information on it. This is not so "northern" as Finland, but I still consider it northern. The UK itself was something of a "melting pot" with the angles, saxons, and jutes.

[@clarkekent8767]

Thank you for the correct pronounciation of NEANDERTHAL! 😘

[@frankv7068]

Target / Tarjay 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@vitormelomedeiros]

oh no no no don't please no

[@lamichhane]

The fact that their remains were first found in Siberia, then Tibet and now their DNA is most commonly found in Southeast Asia and Australia suggests that they were moving to that particular direction for some reason, we still don't know why

[@Abdega]

Who was the eagle eyed paleontologist who found that pinky bone? I would have just thought it was a pebble!

[@robinchesterfield42]

I KNOW! And even better, they not only managed to recreate the entire genome of the girl whose bone it was, but those of _both of her parents_ . ...WOW. That, is impressive. It's probably also due to the fact that Siberian temperatures preserve things better, but still...

[@neithermanc1]

If it's assumed Denisovans practiced burial traditions similar to Neanderthals and modern humans, could an excavation in an area around the cave entrance be done to unearth any potential fossils? For that matter, should the dead be disturbed?

[@ZacharyLaid]

All of us here are distant cousins.

[@aeiouaeiouaeiou]

what about my brother

[@sigmoidbeast7712]

Incest ⊙⊙ ------

[@nerine9301]

I'm good with that!

[@sigmoidbeast7712]

@@nerine9301 ⊙⊙ 0

[@nerine9301]

@@sigmoidbeast7712 nasty mind...

[@SandyRiverBlue]

I do some work with folks who are running medication research projects and the pronunciation of even basic biological processes and terms seem to vary slightly by region. I've noticed that people who speak standard American English tend to be the ones that try to correct a pronunciation the most, even when they are wrong. I t adds a little difficulty to my work, because I have to have a pronunciation plan in place before my meetings with clients, but it has also made me a more accepting person for sure and opened my eyes to the amazing cultural differences in the US, Canada and Mexico. I think both pronunciations are fine and I have had profs pronounce it both ways.

[@mcthrull7417]

I guess I am 4% denisovan *"I serve the denisovan clan"*

[@SonOfTheDawn515]

At least he pronounced Neanderthal correctly

[@nathanlevesque7812]

Was it someone named Denise who told you about the pronunciation? That would make my day.

[@bobwarfield3621]

When did this change from Hominids to Hominins?

[@rudra62]

They're all homonyms. :)

[@katiemolloy9073]

Hank is really cute when he does the sidebar/subscribe thing

[@charliebronson6252]

I still dont know how people can spout the whole "theres only one race, the human race". Taxonomically its quite clear that thats not true.

[@Lioness006]

Thank you for pronouncing Neanderthals correctly!

[@WilliumBobCole]

You say funji every opportunity you get, yet you're concerned about how to say Denisovans...

[@rokibeeskiroodroki9018]

Willium_Bob_Cole ikr, if it was funji fungus would be funjus

[@jameshumphrey9939]

maybe

[@weshard1]

Do an episode on what is known of the Red Deer Cave People, please.