Posted on 09/28/2009 7:40:40 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
When it comes to love, we Homo sapiens are a peculiar breed: We thrill at the thought of torrid affairs while dreaming about the perfect someone with whom we can spend the rest of our lives. Some of this never-ending tug-of-war for our hearts is certainly cultural, but according to a new study it's also encoded in the finger bones of Neanderthals and the upright walking primate Australopithecus... In humans and primates, the ratio between the index and ring fingers is thought to be a telltale marker for how much of the androgen class of hormones -- and specifically, testosterone -- someone was exposed to while in the womb. Extra androgen leads to longer ring fingers, the thinking goes, and therefore a lower index-to-ring finger ratio. Though highly contentious, studies indicate that men who receive high levels of androgen before birth are more likely to be stronger, faster, and more sexually competitive. Women who receive high levels of androgen may have similar traits... The Neanderthals had long ring fingers, suggesting they were a promiscuous bunch -- like many primates alive today they probably lived in groups. Males may have likely either kept harems of female mates, or males and females each mated with multiple partners. A. afarensis, made famous by the popular "Lucy" skeleton, lived between 4 and 3 million years ago, long before modern humans. Its short ring finger hints that it was faithful to a single mate, but Nelson says that doesn't sit well.
(Excerpt) Read more at dsc.discovery.com ...
The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
in local libraries
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Well, duh, you couldn't hear them anyway.
LOL... the best part is, it took me ten seconds to figure it out...
Thank you!
Great album! (”Phrenology” by The Roots)
Rule of thumb for primates:
Male and female same size = monogamous
Male much larger than female = harems
Humans? Average male just a little larger than average female = mostly monogamous...
LOL! I was gonna say, why not just do palm readings? It’ll tell you everything you need to know.
“LOL! I was gonna say, why not just do palm readings? It’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
Pfft.
Palm readings are only good for when you need to know how much money the gypsy lady needs to bury in a grave yard during the full moon in order to shed yourself of great and dangerous evil.
Everyone knows that.
Doh! I knew that ... I think.
Some people have no sense of humidor.
;’) Actually, when there’s little in the way of sexual dimorphism (I just like to say it, okay?) i.e., when the genders are the same size, the males often share females (harems, but the other way).
More likely, A high percentage of perinatally androgenized females would have been sterile, and with varying degrees of hermaphrodite expression in the formation of external genitalia.
I think a lot of current humans are pretty conflicted about it too.
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