Day 1119, Science News 

 

There’s Neanderthal in me;

There’s Neanderthal in you.

From our DNA, we see

What the ancients liked to do.

 

First, up out of Africa,

We know our ancestors strayed,

Then, back down to Africa,

To share genes with those who stayed.

 

In two hundred thousand years,

Emigrating, wave on wave,

From our genomes, it appears

Ancients liked to “misbehave.”

 

We walked out of Africa,

Sharing genes along the way;

Now, we’ve filled America

And there’s nowhere else to play.

We first got our wanderlust

Back a million years ago.

“It’s Eurasian lands, or bust!”

1. erectus cried, “Let’s go!”  (1)

 

Somewhere on Eurasian plains,

The Neanderthals emerged.

Just like us, they grew big brains;

Later on, Cro Magnon merged.

 

There’s Neanderthal in you;

There’s Neanderthal in me.

Genes show what we used to do;

We’ve a mixed breed pedigree.

 

Way back in prehistory,

Mixing genes, our pedigree.

 

(1)  This is a free translation.  Written records have not survived.