Since Neanderthals weren’t animals, it’s not surprising that it wasn’t mentioned.
“Since Neanderthals weren’t animals, it’s not surprising that it wasn’t mentioned.”
Neanderthals predated recorded history by a lot, which, historically speaking, is a relatively modern innovation.
I thought that, "biologically speaking" even homo sapiens (modern human beings) are animals. So it stands to reason to refer to neanderthals as animals too, however close one may think they were to homo sapiens. Yet they were different enough from homo sapiens IMHO for interbreeding with them to be remarkable, as in remarkably weird.