The key difference between Homosapien and Neanderthal is that homosapien is the modern human who lives today while neanderthal is an extinct species. Although homosapien and neanderthal share certain similarities, there are many structural differences between both. For example, Neanderthal had a stronger and larger body structure than homo sapien, but homo sapien is more intelligent than Neanderthals. We will be discussing here more on the similarities and differences between both.
Homosapien and Neanderthal are two species in human evolution. They share a common ancestor. The scientific name of Neanderthal is Homo neanderthalensis. They are the archaic humans who lived 250,000 – 40,000 years ago.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. Who is Homosapien
3. Who is Neanderthal
4. Similarities Between Homosapien and Neanderthal
5. Side by Side Comparison – Homosapien vs Neanderthal in Tabular Form
6. Summary
Who is Homosapien?
Homosapien or Homo sapiens refer to the modern humans living today. Homosapien is also known as ‘wise man’ since he is intelligent than the other homo groups and all the other species living on this planet. Homo sapiens evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago.
Figure 01: Homosapiens
Their body skeleton is lighter compared to early homo groups. They have a larger brain, but the size differs among the population to population, and among the males and females.
Who is Neanderthal?
Neanderthal refers to the archaic man who lived 250,000 – 40,000 years ago. Scientific nomenclature of neanderthal is Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. Fossil records and stone tool assemblages describe their existence and extinction. They lived in Europe and Western Asia regions. They had adaptations to live in cold weather conditions and were strong compared to modern humans.
Figure 02: Neanderthal
Different characteristics distinguish Neanderthal from homosapiens. Firstly, they had a larger body size. Their limbs were also short. Moreover, they were not intelligent as homosapiens though their cranial capacity was high. Male and female Neanderthals were of the same height. Also, Neanderthals had a large and heavy mandible compared to homosapiens.
What are the Similarities Between Homosapien and Neanderthal?
- Homosapien and Neanderthal came from a common ancestor around 700000 years ago.
- Both these species belong to Homo
- They share DNA similarities.
What is Difference Between Homosapien and Neanderthal?
Homosapien vs Neanderthal |
|
| Homosapien is the modern day man. | Neanderthal is the archaic man. |
| Scientific Name | |
| Homo sapiens | Homo sapiens neanderthalensis |
| Living vs Extinct | |
| A living species | An extinct species |
| Height | |
| Taller than Neanderthal | Shorter than Homosapien |
| Body Size | |
| Smaller in body size | Larger in body size |
| Bones | |
| Has soft bones | Has thicker bones |
| Limbs | |
| Has longer limbs | Has shorter limbs |
| Humerus | |
| Has symmetrical humerus | Has asymmetrical humerus |
| Metacarpals | |
| Has relatively less thick metacarpals | Has thicker metacarpals |
| Shape of Chest | |
| Has a normal shaped chest | Has a barrel-shaped chest |
| Strength | |
| Comparatively weaker | Strong |
Summary – Homosapien vs Neanderthal
Homosapien and Neanderthal are two groups of genus Homo. Homosapien is the modern human while Neanderthal is the archaic man. Although they share certain similarities, they differ in many structural characteristics. Homosapien is more intelligent than Neanderthal while neanderthal had a strong and large body compared to homosapien. This is the difference between Homosapien and Neanderthal.
Reference:
1. “Homo Sapiens.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Apr. 2018, Available here.
2. “Neanderthal.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 May 2018, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Akha cropped hires” By Weltenbummler84 – This file has been extracted from another file: Akha couple.JPG (CC BY-SA 2.0 de) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Neanderthal” by Allan Henderson (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr