"The Sixth Extinction" Chapter 12

Chapter 12 focused on the bones and the presumed interactions that Neanderthals had while they were still living. As with any extinct species, researchers and scientists alike began to discuss what could have caused the extinction of the Neanderthals. Climate change, disease, and even modern-day humans are potential reasons for their disappearance. This is because “the archaeological record shows, as soon as they made their way to a region where Neanderthals were living, the Neanderthals in that region disappeared.” (Kolbert, 238) I believe that the exposure to modern humans may have caused the Neanderthal extinction; however, it is not, nor will it ever be, proven completely. During one of the lectures, I learned that scientists tend to give explanations to issues only because they found a correlation between two factors; however, their conclusions are not always accurate. In other words, correlation does not always mean causation and understanding this statement is extremely important for scientists to avoid making immediate assumptions.

When comparing the physique of Neanderthals to that of modern humans, the similarities were striking to scientists. In fact, Svate Paablo, the head of The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, decides to compare the genes of both species because “somewhere in our DNA must lie the key mutation that set us apart…” (Kolbert, 240) The idea that mutation may have separated us from Neanderthals is supported by Darwin’s theory of evolution. Specifically, there are four potential components that directly cause evolution which are: mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection. In his findings, Paablo discovered that Neanderthal DNA is more similar to that of Europeans and Asians, as opposed to Africans. An explanation for this includes that there may have been a more intimate interaction between these two groups and the Neanderthals, which is why some of our DNA is actually part Neanderthal. Unfortunately, many apes today are destined to have the same fate as the Neanderthals because of human poaching and exploitation, or as Kolbert puts it: “There will be among the great apes not a single representative left, except, that is, for us.” (Kolbert 255)