Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago.
  • noun A member of an extinct grouping of the genus Homo that lived in the Altay Mountains some 41,000 years ago.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Denisova Cave, where Denisovan remains were discovered.

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Examples

  • The same team led by Svante Pääbo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, first reported the possibility of the pre-human "Denisovan" population in March based on a preliminary genetic analysis.

    New extinct species of pre-humans confirmed 2010

  • After an international team of researchers sequenced the DNA from 40 milligrams of bone they removed from the fossil, they found the "Denisovan" deh-NEESE-so-van individual shared a common origin with Neanderthals but was genetically distinct, apparently descending from the same ancestral population of Neanderthals that had separated earlier from the ancestors of modern humans.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2010

  • milligrams of bone they removed from the fossil, they found the "Denisovan" deh-NEESE-so-van

    Breaking News: CBS News 2010

  • milligrams of bone they removed from the fossil, they found the "Denisovan" deh-NEESE-so-van

    FOXNews.com foxnewsonline@foxnews.com 2010

  • milligrams of bone they removed from the fossil, they found the "Denisovan" deh-NEESE-so-van

    FOXNews.com Charles Q. Choi 2010

  • This implies interspecies mating somewhere in eastern Indonesia, which was then a continent rather than an archipelago and must have also been part of the Denisovan range.

    Getting to Know a Real 'Abominable Snowman' Matt Ridley 2011

  • Sidenote: it is likely that present-day Africans owe some of their immune system to interbreeding with non-Neanderthal/Denisovan early hominid species.

    Priya Malhotra: Sex With Neanderthals: The Ultimate Immunity Boost Priya Malhotra 2011

  • If you are non-African, 1-6% of your genome is Denisovan/Neanderthal.

    Priya Malhotra: Sex With Neanderthals: The Ultimate Immunity Boost Priya Malhotra 2011

  • The Denisova cave where the first Denisovan was found is just three days' walk from where genuine Neanderthal remains have been found, so it's possible the ranges of the species overlapped at least for a time.

    Getting to Know a Real 'Abominable Snowman' Matt Ridley 2011

  • Now they've shown that all modern Melanesian people from Papua New Guinea and surrounding lands have Denisovan DNA in their genes, at about 5%.

    Getting to Know a Real 'Abominable Snowman' Matt Ridley 2011

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