Meet Dragon Man, Humans’ Possible New Relative | SciShow News

TL;DR

Dragon Man, a well-preserved cranium discovered in China, may represent a new species of human, Homo longi. Additionally, the earliest known case of plague in human history, caused by Yersinia pestis, has been found in a 5,000-year-old skeleton.

Transcript

[♪ INTRO] If you were on the internet at all in the past week, you’ve probably heard the name, Dragon Man. That’s the name given to a well-preserved, complete cranium found in China back in the 1930s. After being hidden for decades, it was rediscovered in 2018, and it became the subject of some pretty astonishing research. And according to three ar... Read More

Key Insights

• 👶 Dragon Man's cranium may represent a new species of human, challenging our understanding of human evolution.
• 🫤 Dragon Man shared a common ancestor with modern Homo sapiens around 950 thousand years ago, potentially making it more closely related to us than Neanderthals.
• ❓ The discovery of the ancient Yersinia pestis strain shifts our understanding of the early spread of the plague and highlights the important role of fleas in later plague epidemics.
• 😒 The use of scientific tools, such as genome sequencing, allows for new insights into ancient humans and the pathogens that affected them.
• 👨‍🔬 The complexity of the human evolutionary tree and the evolution of pathogens like the plague are still areas requiring further research.
• 🇮🇲 Dragon Man's rediscovery in 2018 emphasizes the importance of safeguarding and reexamining existing archaeological finds.
• 💁 The study of ancient pathogens provides valuable information about the coevolution of humans and diseases.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Dragon Man differ from Homo sapiens?

Dragon Man's cranium is larger, longer, and flatter than that of Homo sapiens, leading researchers to propose that Dragon Man represents a separate species, Homo longi.

Q: How old is Dragon Man?

Through geologic and chemical analyses, it has been determined that Dragon Man lived at least 146,000 years ago.

Q: Is Dragon Man more closely related to Neanderthals or Homo sapiens?

While some researchers suggest that Dragon Man is closely related to Neanderthals, others argue that Dragon Man represents a separate evolutionary branch.

Q: What insights does the discovery of the ancient strain of Yersinia pestis provide?

The discovery suggests that the plague existed much earlier than previously thought and that it originated from an ancient strain that lacked the ability to infect humans through fleas.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Dragon Man's well-preserved cranium suggests the existence of a new species of human, Homo longi, which is possibly our closest evolutionary relative.

• The research on Dragon Man challenges previous assumptions about the complexity of the human evolutionary tree.

• An ancient strain of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that caused the Black Death, has been found in a 5,000-year-old skeleton, pushing back the record for the earliest known case of plague and providing insights into the evolution of the bacteria.