Today there is only one species of human being: homo sapiens.
But about 60,000 years ago we faced off – and even had sex – with another species, the Neanderthals.
This ancient relative had large noses, a strong, double-arched brow ridge and relatively short and stocky bodies, according to skeletal evidence.
And while the details of Neanderthals’ sexual organs are not preserved in the fossil record, they were not, it is believed, so anatomically different from ours.
Researchers say Neanderthals had penises of the same size and general shape as modern men.
Dr. Andrew Merriwether, an anthropologist at Binghamton University in New York, said Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were “incredibly similar.”
‘They are virtually identical to us in most respects, so I would assume that the unpreserved soft parts are probably the same as those of other people,’ he told MailOnline.
Professor Guido Barbujani, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of Ferrera in Italy, told MailOnline: ‘Genitals are not preserved in fossils, and there is no way to find out what they looked like in Neanderthals.
About 60,000 years ago we competed against each other – and even had sex with – another species, the Neanderthals. In the photo a reconstruction of a Neanderthal in the Natural History Museum in London
Neanderthals had large noses, strong double-curved brow ridges, and relatively short and stocky bodies. The species was widely distributed in Eurasia (Europe and Asia), from Portugal and Wales in the west to the Altai Mountains of Siberia in the east.
‘Evolution can sometimes happen quite quickly, but I doubt that there are deeply modified reproductive organs.’
The history of the Neanderthals – and details about their encounters with Homo sapiens – remain largely a mystery.
But we do know that Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Eurasia (Europe and Asia) – where they encountered Neanderthals – 60,000 to 70,000 years ago.
When the two species first met, they probably used basic verbal communication or even languages – possibly enough to understand each other.
“Neanderthals were probably able to speak as we can infer from the morphology of some bones and from inferences we can make about their brains,” Alessia Nava, an anthropologist at the University of Rome, told MailOnline.
However, Professor Barbujani pointed out that all species of monkeys today “mate happily without verbal communication” – with the exception of humans.
Marks on ancient skulls and traces of weapons show that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens engaged in brutal combat, but that there were also widespread love practices.
‘We naturally assume that the mating was consensual,’ Paul Pettitt, professor of archeology at the University of Durham, told MailOnline.
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Pictured: A reconstructed head and reassembled skull of Shanidar Z, a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton
Neanderthals had a long, low skull (compared to the more bulbous skull of modern humans) with a prominent brow ridge above their eyes. Pictured: A skull at a Neanderthal exhibit at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris
‘But a sad fact from the ancient world may indicate that this was far from true and that one ‘partner’ may have had little choice.
‘So in the harsh times of the prehistoric world, perhaps mating simply took place – improvised, without any thought or intention.
‘If it was consensual, we can certainly assume there was foreplay – even sensual kissing and cuddling.’
Chimpanzees – extant relatives of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals – often indulge in this type of intimate social bonding behavior and even hold hands, he added.
Whatever the circumstances of the two species’ copulation, we know that they have produced successful offspring. That’s why humans today have some Neanderthal DNA.
A 2020 study found that the two species could easily produce “fertile and healthy” babies because they were genetically similar.
The two species began breeding together about 50,500 years ago and continued to do so for about 7,000 years, until the Neanderthals began to go extinct.
The reasons for their demise vary, but experts have suggested that they were vulnerable to climate change or had lost violent battles with Homo sapiens for resources such as food and shelter.
Neanderthals were skilled big game hunters, using spears to take down animals like deer, ibex, and even rhinos and mammoths. It is likely that they would have hesitated to use these weapons if their families and lands were threatened – possibly by the arrival of Homo sapiens. In the photo: ancient Neanderthal spears
Professor Pettitt is an expert who challenges the assumption that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were even two different species.
‘The fact that the bones and brains of Neanderthals were a different shape to those of Homo sapiens does not necessarily mean that the two were actually different biological species,’ he told MailOnline.
‘In the wider animal world there is ample evidence of successful interbreeding between different ‘species’.
‘Perhaps we should view the human picture between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago as a mosaic of regional ‘mestizo’ populations – largely biologically identical, but with different genetic adaptations to their different environments.’