If Homo sapiens and Neanderthals are different species, how did they interbreed and produce the fertile offspring needed for modern humans to have some Neanderthal DNA?

Question

I was told that two seperate species couldn’t interbreed and produce fertile offspring, so I don’t understand how we ended up with some Neanderthal DNA.

In: Biology

Answer 1

Species within the same genus can generally interbreed and often create fertile offspring. The simplified school version doesn’t look at the classifications above species.

Both Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens belong to the genus Homo