"The Geico caveman has a right to be angry"

Neanderthals doomed by breeding with humans, CU study finds

Excerpts:

Humans didn't kill off Neanderthals by outsmarting them or outfighting them.

Humans wiped out the prehuman race by sleeping with them. Often. And across most of Eurasia, apparently.

A new study co-written by a University of Colorado Denver researcher used computer modeling of how Neanderthals moved around to pose new claims that prehumans were not subhuman.

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The computer modeling comes after a study last year revealed 1 to 4 percent of modern human genes in Eurasian peoples are leftovers from Neanderthals. Scientists consider that proof of breeding between the two distinct species before Neanderthals died out roughly 30,000 years ago.

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"It shows you don't need to depend on the old cliches to explain the disappearance of Neanderthals," Riel-Salvatore said. "You don't need to make assumptions about them being stupid or less flexible."

The Geico caveman has a right to be angry, he added.

"They'll have to make a more equal-opportunity commercial — 'So easy, anyone can do it,' " he said.

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