Denny (hybrid hominin)

Denny (Denisova 11) is an about 90,000-year-old fossil of a about 13-year-old Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid girl. She is the only first-generation hybrid hominin ever found. Denny's remains are a single piece of a long bone discovered among over 2,000 pieces found at the Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains, Russia in 2012.

A team of researchers at Oxford University led by Tom Higham used special science methods to identify the bone as belonging to an archaic human with Neanderthal ancestry.

Genomic sequencing showed that Denny was the child of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. Her father also had a little bit of Neanderthal ancestry from many generations before him.

These findings suggest that Denisovans and Neanderthals may have mated with each other sometimes when they met. They also support the idea that similar mixing happened between older humans and modern humans, which may have led to some Denisovans and Neanderthals becoming part of our family today.

Overview

In 2016, scientists discovered that Denny (Denisova 11), a young girl who lived about 90,000 years ago, was a mix of two ancient human-like groups. Her mother was a Neanderthal and her father was a Denisovan. This discovery came from a small piece of bone found in a cave in Russia. It is the first clear proof that these ancient groups had children together.

This finding helps us learn more about how different ancient humans interacted. We now know that Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans lived in the same places at different times and had children together. Their genes can still be found in many people today. This shows us how these groups may have mixed together instead of simply dying out.

Discovery

The fossil known as Denny was found in 2012 in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, Russia. The fossil is a small piece of bone, about 2 cm long. It was found among many other bone fragments. At first, scientists did not know what the bone came from.

Later, researchers studied the bone with new science tools. They learned that it belonged to an ancient human. More tests showed that this person had family ties to two different ancient human groups, Neanderthals and Denisovans. This discovery was important because it showed that these ancient groups had children together for the first time.

DNA analysis

Scientists studied a small bone fragment called DC1227, also known as Denisova 11. They think it came from an arm or leg. They found that this bone belonged to a girl who was a mix of Neanderthal and Denisovan — two ancient human relatives. This made her the first known hybrid of these two groups.

Further tests showed that her father had a bit of Neanderthal DNA, and her mother was closely related to Neanderthals from Western Europe. This suggests that Neanderthals traveled from Western Europe to Central Eurasia and met Denisovans many times over thousands of years.

Main article: Denisova Cave

Context and implications

Further information: Interbreeding between archaic and modern humans

Scientists have long believed that different kinds of ancient humans mixed together. We now know that modern humans carry DNA from Neanderthals and Denisovans. For example, many people today have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, and some people from Melanesian regions have even more Denisovan DNA.

The discovery of Denny shows that some ancient humans had parents from two different species. This finding helps us understand that human evolution was not simple, but a more complex web of connections between different groups of humans over time.