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Neanderthals and woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) co-existed in similar geographic and environmental European settings during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene epochs and both were direct descendants of African ancestors, although both fully evolved and adapted in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene. A new study, published in the journal Human Biology, suggests that the genetic profiles of the two species shared molecular characteristics of adaptation to cold environments.
This image depicts a Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain with woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), equids, a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and European cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea). Image credit: Mauricio Anton.
The woolly mammoth evolved in the arctic peninsula of Eurasia around 600,000 years ago.
It originated from an African ancestor known as Mammuthus rumanus which most likely migrated into East Eurasia about 3.5 million years ago.
Compared to its ancestors, the woolly mammoth physiology presents various adaptive traits suitable to a cold climate.
Neanderthals were highly skilled early humans who evolved in Europe around 400,000 years ago, and later spread across parts of Asia and the Levant.
They originated from a local European ancestor, who most likely belonged to a population that migrated from Africa into Euro-Asia around 1.2 million years ago.
“Neanderthals and mammoths lived together in Europe during the Ice Age,” said Tel-Aviv University’s Professor Ran Barkai, co-author of the study.
“The evidence suggests that Neanderthals hunted and ate mammoths for tens of thousands of years and were actually physically dependent on calories extracted from mammoths for their successful adaptation. Neanderthals depended on mammoths for their very existence.”
“They say you are what you eat. This was especially true of Neanderthals; they ate mammoths but were apparently also genetically similar to mammoths.”
Professor Barkai and his colleague, Meidad Kislev, analyzed three case studies in order to examine the possible existence of molecular resemblance in the adaptation processes of Neanderthals and woolly mammoths.
The first case study outlined the mutual appearance of the LEPR gene, related to thermogenesis and the regulation of adipose tissue and fat storage throughout the body.
The second case study engaged genes related to keratin protein activity in both species.
The third case study focused on skin and hair pigmentation variants in the genes MC1R and SLC7A11.
“Our observations present the likelihood of resemblance between numerous molecular variants that resulted in similar cold-adapted epigenetic traits of two species, both of which evolved in Eurasia from an African ancestor,” Kislev said.
“These remarkable findings offer supporting evidence for the contention regarding the nature of convergent evolution through molecular resemblance, in which similarities in genetic variants between adapted species are present.”
“It is now possible to try to answer a question no one has asked before: are there genetic similarities between evolutionary adaptation paths in Neanderthals and mammoths?” Professor Barkai said.
“The answer seems to be ‘yes.’ This idea alone opens endless avenues for new research in evolution, archaeology and other disciplines.”
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Meidad Kislev Ran Barkai. 2018. Neanderthal and Woolly Mammoth Molecular Resemblance: Genetic Similarities May Underlie Cold Adaptation Suite. Human Biology 90 (2): 1-14; doi: 10.13110/humanbiology.90.2.03
