Did early humans go ape for chimps?. 18/05/2006. ABC News Online:
"Did early humans go ape for chimps?
Humans' ancestors interbred with chimpanzees after the two species drew apart millions of years ago, a paper suggests.
The provocative idea is sketched by US genome experts, who have discovered that hominids and chimps diverged far more recently - and over a much longer time scale - than anyone had thought.
During this time, the authors theorise, the two primates were rather more than kissing cousins: they had sex, swapping genes before making a final separation.
'The ... analysis revealed big surprises, with major implications for human evolution,' co-author Professor Eric Lander, the director of the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said.
Until now, the belief was that humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor but went their separate ways around 6.5 - 7.4 million years ago.
The basis for this is a carbon-dated fossil called Toumai, whose supporters say is the oldest known human.
Its critics, though, dismiss Toumai as an ape."
"Did early humans go ape for chimps?
Humans' ancestors interbred with chimpanzees after the two species drew apart millions of years ago, a paper suggests.
The provocative idea is sketched by US genome experts, who have discovered that hominids and chimps diverged far more recently - and over a much longer time scale - than anyone had thought.
During this time, the authors theorise, the two primates were rather more than kissing cousins: they had sex, swapping genes before making a final separation.
'The ... analysis revealed big surprises, with major implications for human evolution,' co-author Professor Eric Lander, the director of the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said.
Until now, the belief was that humans and chimpanzees shared a common ancestor but went their separate ways around 6.5 - 7.4 million years ago.
The basis for this is a carbon-dated fossil called Toumai, whose supporters say is the oldest known human.
Its critics, though, dismiss Toumai as an ape."
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