Tag Archive for 'Inbreeding'

King Charles II of Spain was the last in the Habsburg line and one of the most afflicted with the facial deformity.

‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Result of Inbreeding, New Research Confirms

Dec 3, 2019 by News Staff

A facial condition called the ‘Habsburg jaw’ (mandibular prognathism) owes its name to its high prevalence in the Habsburg dynasty of Spanish and Austrian...

Neanderthals are commonly thought to have relied on dangerous close range hunting techniques, using non-projectile weapons like the thrusting spears depicted here; this hunting approach is thought to have brought them into violent contact with large mammals, resulting in high levels of injury especially to the head and neck when compared to modern humans; Beier et al found similar head injury levels in both Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans, casting doubt on this hypothesis. Image credit: Gleiver Prieto.

Neanderthal Extinction Caused by Inbreeding and Smallness of Their Populations, Study Suggests

Nov 28, 2019 by News Staff

A long-standing enigma in paleoanthropology is the demise of Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago. There is general agreement that their disappearance coincides...