Is it possible for a neaderthal and a homo sapien to crossbreed?

Question

in animals, when a lion and a tiger cross breeds their cub is sterile. how about with a neanderthal and a human?

Answer 1

Emphatically, no.  If Homo Sapiens and Neaderthals could have produced offspring, I firmly believe the neanderthals would still be around.  It was precisely this incompatibility that caused the demise of the neaderthal.  Homo Sapiens killed them all off.

If there were any biological entanglements, neanderthals  would not have been defeated.

Answer 2

There are numerous theories that state that Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal interbreeding was a contributing factor to the extinction of the Neanderthals. There have been skeletons found in caves of what seem to be half and half. However this has not been proven even with the evidence that is out there. Many scientists cite prominant brow ridges, thicker bones, and wider nostrals in some homo sapiens of European decent as evidence to support this theory.

Answer 3

I think totally possible.  Neanderthal is an earlier version of sapiens so therefore they should be fairly compatible.

There are some organ differences that might prove interesting as the food intake of the earlier species was so different.  

End result?  Not sure, but it would make for an interesting study.

Answer 4

The most recent studies, based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA, suggest that we did not interbreed with Neaderthals.  

But your questions was "could they"!  The general rule is that two animals from different species cannot have fertile offspring.  One example of a sterile, interspecies animal is the liger, as you said.  Another is the mule, a cross between a horse and a donkey.

But we don't even really know how to classify Neanderthals.  Most people know that we consider modern humans Homo sapiens sapiens (where Homo is the genus, sapiens is the species, and the second sapiens is the sub-species).  Some scientists classify Neanderthals as Homo sapiens neandertalensis - a seperate sub-species of humans.  Others call them Homo neandertalensis, a different species within the genus Homo.

It seems the only way to find out would be to try - but their extinction 30,000 years ago kind of puts a damper on that.

So we really don't know if human and Neandertals could produce fertile offspring, but I'd bet the farm that somebody tried it more than once.  If the child was sterile, we would never find out about it 30,000 years later anyway!

Answer 5

Well, since there aren't any any more, no.

But it's controversial among scientists as to whether they DID cross breed wtih our direct ancestors.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/bein...

Answer 6

Of course it's possible, I married one, and, Ive just become a grandfather.