Study Suggests a Neanderthal Speech Gene

Oct 19, 06:28 AM

Current Headlines: DNA evidence from two Neanderthals found in a Spanish cave suggested that the prehistoric human species possessed a speech gene.

Svante Paabo, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said he and his colleagues have extracted part of the FOXP2 gene from the fossils and found that it is the same as the human version, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The findings are published online in the journal Current Biology.

Paabo said there is no reason to think Neanderthals couldn't speak like humans, although there are many other genes involved in language and speech.