Neanderthals

You're right, I think the dolphins do live happier lives. We have all of our society and technology, all it does is serve to put the rich on a pedestal and the poor in the gutter. We're miserable creatures hoping that material possessions will bring happiness, crushing those that live outside the realm of civilization. If all it took to be happy was a good play ethic and a healthy dose of non-consented sexual congress...well, I'd feel bad about the rape part. Probably wouldn't be a raping dolphin.

 

Speaking of dolphins and technology.

 

Actually, I studied Neanderthals in Biology class long ago in my 1st year of college. It's true that their brain was bigger than ours but upon closer examination of a Neanderthal skull (something like the studying the traces left by the veins and counting them, I forgot the details), It was revealed that they were way dumber than Homosapiens and like Zanza said, didn't know how to survive/adapt.

I even read an article that said that we actually ate them (didn't surprise me really with cannibalism existing even today).

That was as far as I got in Biology really before switching to Physics so don't know anything about Sperm Whales

 

Is it really cannibalism if they're a different species?

 

I suppose not.

 

I konw they could mate and create offspring, though it's not sure if they were sterile hybrids or not. Just like there is specutlation that humans and chimpanzees can still create hybrids due to the little difference in our DNAs (though nobody wants to test this).

But H. Sapien and H. Neanderthalensis are still classified as distinct species. The consensus is still up in the air as to if H. Neanderthalensis is to be reclassified as a subdivision of H. Sapien. At least according to the last news articles I read on the subject back in December.

 

Hmm, indeed. My latent neanderthal DNA is what makes large, redhaired women so attractive to me, particularly if they can wield an axe.

 

You had all sorts of Homos back in the day, but like modern day Homos they can't interbreed.

 

Neanderthals inherited a greater technological culture than ours when they diverged from us on the genes of homo-erectus. However, when we finally entered Europe with better stone tools, the larynx of the Neanderthal is what kept it from succeeding. It had the brainpower, but couldn't articulate the same amount of sounds from its larynx. Though, language cannot be defined merely as "what comes from the human voice box." It's entirely possible the neanderthals got by on clicks, some vocalizations, and hand signals. They had better stone tools than us starting out, but seemed to stagnate for the 100,000 years they were ahead of us. That, and our languages would've been nigh impossible for them to learn, simply due to the placement of their hyoid bone in the throat. Sure, we could've eaten them, but some of their genes survive in modern humans, as well as the genes of the Denisova Hominid. But really, look at what we've done to the earth in the short time we've been around. Neanderthals lived in harmony with the earth for about 365,000 years, and what do we have to show for it? Technology that millions of people use, but only handfuls can repair if broken. How many would survive without the convenience of a grocery store? Who's smarter, the one that lives with the earth, or the one who dominates it and squanders its resources?