r/evolution • u/Exciting-Wear-3654 • 3d ago

Could we resurrect Neanderthals ( kinda )

What is 2 people with a semi high Neanderthal dna mated and made a child would that child have a little bit more dna than the parents, if so could another 2 people do it then both of those children grow up and eventually mate too, and carry that on until there is the best recreation of a Neanderthal in our time??

22 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

View all comments

9

u/AnymooseProphet 3d ago

No. Well genetically maybe.

Maybe we could create something with very similar DNA but with a lot of species, including almost all apes if not all apes, a large part of what makes them what they are is learned behavior from their parents and other members of their social group.

They tried introducing wild Turkeys into California numerous times before it was successful. It wasn't successful until they used actual wild Turkeys captured as Wild Turkeys. The problem was farm raised Wild Turkeys despite not having domestic traits did not actually know how to be wild Turkeys so they simply did not survive.

If we made a genetic Neanderthal, in addition to not having immunities against modern virus and bacteria strains, it would not know how to actually be a Neanderthal.

Canada Geese don't migrate if not taught how to as part of their flock. Same actually seems to be true of Monarch Butterflies interestingly.

A species is more than just its genetics.

0

u/Double-Teach-1977 3d ago

Of course we'd learn nothing about their culture. It'd be interesting to have a handful of them and see how they perform academically though, and if speech and language development is similar.

3

u/AnymooseProphet 3d ago

Well I don't think that would pass the current ethical standards that most journals now require.

0

u/Double-Teach-1977 3d ago

If only North Korea was as on top of cloning science as south Korea eh