Did the Neanderthals and Homospaiens from thousands of years ago go extinct and we are their great grand children? Like most of us have some Neanderthal DNA so does that mean they never died out?

Question

I was just thinking about this, and wanted to ask

In: Biology

Answer 1

The line between *Homo sapiens* and *Homo neanderthalensis* gets murky when you consider that they *did* successfully interbreed violating the traditional definition of a species, and similarly making it hard to determine whether either species is still alive today.

However, 1-2% of DNA from humans of European and Asian descent, and close to 0% of Africans, originates from Neanderthals. Take from that as you will.