However, they found an unusual amount of DNA of modern humans on the Neanderthal X chromosome. Comparison of Neanderthal and modern human genomes yielded a startling discovery — current human genomes contain segments of Neanderthal DNA. Later, it was discovered that most of the human X chromosome lacks Neanderthal ancestry. The recent study has now established that the X chromosome of Neanderthals across time had 62 per cent more modern human DNA compared to their autosomal chromosomes. The simplest explanation is that, over a large number of generations, Neanderthal males mated more often with human females than human males mated with Neanderthal females.

Source: The Telegraph March 16, 2026 03:07 UTC