Neanderthals didn't mate with humans
Scientists studying the Neanderthal genome say there is no evidence that the ancient species ever mated with modern humans.
The DNA research - critical to understanding human evolution - is looking at how Neanderthals and humans differed, despite sharing between 99.5% to 99.9% of our DNA sequence.
Experts say that by analyzing genetic info they can better understand Neanderthals who lived alongside modern humans until 30,000 years ago.
A shared gene associated with speech and language in modern humans had been found meaning the two species could have communicated, and some suggest mated.
But the boffins now claim this was not the case as humans have not inherited any Neanderthal DNA. <insert your own Wayne Rooney joke here>
The team from Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology made the findings after completing the first draft of the genome of a 38,000 year-old Neanderthal.
They plucked the DNA from a fossilised leg bone which was unearthed in a cave in Vindija, Croatia.
LINKS
