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Re: Speciation-how do you know?
Phillip Bigelow (bh162@scn.org)
Thu, 17 Oct 1996 20:13:46 -0700
CHESSONP wrote:
>
> >> If neanderthals were unsuccessful in their environment, then they
> >>were "unsuccessful" for at least 170,000 years! Surviving 170,000
> >>years (roughly 3,400,000 reproductive generations) in a northern
> >>t
>
> This is some amazing reproductive activity. They must really have had some
> sex drive!!!
Whoops...I should have divided instead of multiplying.
That would be around 8,500 reproductive generations, assuming
(roughly) that these peoples had offspring by age 20 (on
average).
Actually, I need to correct another mis-statement, above.
There is some fossil evidence of neanderthals in Europe
as early as 300,000-400,000 years. So maybe they were
breedin' N freezin' for 15,000 - 20,000 reproductive generations.
Don't forget that there were a few *warm spells* slipped into
that time frame, too. It wasn't cold all the time.
(during the glacial interstades, why didn't
anatomically-modern humans invade neanderthal turf?).
<pb>
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