Primitive species of humans have been found in high caves in Tibet!

The Dhaka Times Desk Evidence of 'Denisovans', a primitive race of humans, has been found living in the very high altitudes of Tibet. This is the primitive species of man.

Scientists believe that the ability to survive in extremely hostile environments was originally associated with the only existing human species - Homo sapiens.

From this ancient ancestor of modern humans, a gene has passed into the present species, through which modern humans also have the ability to survive at high altitudes. This issue has been published in detail in the scientific journal 'Nature'.

According to a BBC report, the Denisovans were a mysterious species of human species that lived in Asia before modern humans. It is believed that thousands of years ago they were scattered around the world.

Prior to this, the species was also known from fossils found in the Denisova Caves in Siberia, with some bone and tooth specimens. But from the DNA found there, it is known that they were a distinct branch of mankind.

Now scientists have identified the first Denisova fossil from another site. In 1980, the lower jaw bone of the species Denisova was found in the Baisia Karst Cave at an altitude of 3,280 m on the Tibetan Plateau.

Uranium-series dating is used instead of carbon tests to determine the age of the bones. The jaw bones are said to be about 160,000 years old.

Co-author of the paper, Jean-Jacques Hublin, who works at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, expressed surprise at finding evidence of early human species living so high.

He said that, 'when we studied Neanderthal or Denisova, the original species of modern humans, it was found that they did not have much ability to survive in extreme environments.'

Hublin also said of the Denisovan site found on the Tibetan Plateau, 'It is a plateau. Of course there was plenty of wealth to live on, they didn't just come occasionally.'

The researchers could not find any DNA preserved in these fossils. Then they harvested the protein in a different way. That technique can be called ancient protein analysis.

Frido Welker of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, another author of the paper, said, 'Our protein analysis suggests that the lower jawbone is a hominin closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave.'

This discovery explains that the Denisova cavemen had a gene that works against hypoxia, or the lack of oxygen at higher altitudes. It has been a mystery for a long time because the cave in Siberia is located only 700 meters above sea level.

Today, Sherpas, Tibetans and neighboring populations of the region have similar genetic traits. Which is what homosapiens achieved by mixing with Denisovans thousands of years ago. In fact this genetic diversity has come about through positive natural selection.