Rare toad fight similar to landmark endangered species case

 This photo provided by the Center for Biological Diversity shows a juba skipper, a subspecies of skippers, in the meadows at Baltazor Hot Spring in Humboldt County, Nev., on Sept. 13, 2021. The Center for Biological Diversity is suing to block a geothermal power plant near Denio, Nev., in an effort to protect the the bleached sandhill skipper, a close relative of the juba, which lives only in this area.

 (Patrick Donnelly/Center for Biological Diversity via AP, File)

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The unusual circumstances that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on the Endangered Species Act in 1978 have not surfaced much since then.

But the stage is being set in Nevada for another potentially significant test of the nation’s premier wildlife protection law in a legal battle over a geothermal power plant with similarities to the precedent-setting fight over the snail darter and a dam in Tennessee nearly a half century ago.

Even smaller than that tiny species of perch, the endangered critter in Nevada is a quarter-sized toad found only in high-desert wetlands fed by underground springs on federal land.

Citing the potential threat posed by the water-pumping power plant, the Fish and Wildlife Service declared the Dixie Valley toad endangered on a temporary, emergency basis in April — only the second time in 20 years it’s taken such action.

And while the geothermal plant would generate electricity by spinning turbines with steam tapped from hot water beneath the earth instead of hydropower harnessed from rivers, both projects were born with the promise of producing some of the cleanest, renewable energy of their time.

Decades ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger seemed to anticipate the significance of the 1978 ruling and controversy that would follow when he authored the 6-3 majority opinion on the snail darter just five years after President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law.

“It may seem curious to some,” Burger said, “that the survival of a relatively small number of three-inch fish among all the countless millions of species extant would require the permanent halting of a virtually completed dam for which Congress has expended more than $100 million.”

“We conclude, however, that the explicit provisions of the Endangered Species Act require precisely that result,” he wrote in the case pitting the fish against the Tennessee Valley Authority.

More than four decades later, a similar scenario is unfolding 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Reno where environmentalists and tribal leaders are trying to block the geothermal plant Ormat Technologies agreed to temporarily stop building in August — four months before it was scheduled to start producing power.

The Bureau of Land Management rushed to approve the Nevada project during the final days of former President Donald Trump's administration. But President Joe Biden's administration continues to defend it as part of its own agenda to replace fossil fuels with renewables.

Environmental groups insist they share the president’s goals to combat climate change. But they say the bureau ignored repeated warnings from state and federal wildlife biologists, the U.S. Navy and even its own experts about potential harm to the Dixie Valley toad.

“The expert agency, FWS, has determined that Ormat’s project is likely to cause extinction of the species — the very catastrophe the Endangered Species is intended to prevent,” the Center for Biological Diversity's lawyers wrote in recent filings in federal court in Reno.

The case already has made one trip to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and seems likely to return in the months ahead.

On Aug. 1, the appellate court refused to reinstate a previous injunction temporarily blocking construction, concluding further delay would make it “all but certain” Ormat would be unable to meet a Dec. 31 contract deadline.

Ormat, which already had invested $68 million, argued failure to meet the deadline would cost it another $30 million over 20 years and could jeopardize the project altogether. But later that day, Ormat agreed to suspend all work pending consultation between the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Like the snail darter, the conflict differs from most battles over endangered species. They typically target broad government management plans for things like hunting grizzly bears, energy exploration near sage grouse habitat, logging around northern spotted owls and dam operations on Pacific salmon rivers. Less common are disputes over specific projects like TVA’s dam or Ormat’s geothermal plant.

Now, with the full force of the Endangered Species Act at play, Ormat's opponents are zeroing in on the section of the law the Supreme Court cited in prohibiting construction of the Tellico Dam in 1978.

“The case is analogous to (that case), where it was discovered late into the construction of a $100 million federal dam project that completing and operating the dam would eradicate a rare species of minnow,” environmental lawyers wrote Sept. 16.

They said Congress specifically mandated that federal agencies secure Fish and Wildlife Service approval before taking any action that could jeopardize a species to “prevent a situation like the one presented in TVA” and “avoid an outcome in which the only choices left to an agency are to violate the Endangered Species Act or scrap a virtually completed project.”

Last week, a judge granted a request from the Bureau of Land Management and Ormat to extend the deadline for their responses until Oct. 28.

Central to the Nevada dispute is uncertainty about effects groundwater pumping will have on surface water levels and temperatures.

Ormat insists water it would pump and return to the ground will come from a different aquifer than feeds the wetlands. But environmentalists say the bureau ignored every caution flag raised en route to the project's approval.

"BLM disregarded repeated warnings and objections from scientific experts and nearly every other federal and state agency involved in the project’s development, all of whom warned the project would likely dry up, or at the very least degrade, the hot springs that the Dixie Valley toad depends on for its survival, and cautioned that the project’s monitoring and mitigation plan would be ineffective.”

They cite internal documents that show:

— The Navy, whose Fallon Naval Air Station borders the site, characterized the plan as “inadequate and incomplete.”

— UFWS said it was “a plan describing the development of a plan.”

— BLM staff acknowledged the estimates were “rough guesses.”

In May, the BLM said informal consultation had started and produced a draft biological assessment concluding the project “is likely to adversely affect" the toad. But the FWS said the BLM's assessment was ”inadequate to initiate formal consultation ... missing major elements and lacking necessary analysis.”

The toad is in the spotlight, but similar disputes are brewing at other Nevada green energy projects.

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the FWS in August to list a rare butterfly where Ormat plans another geothermal project near the Oregon line.

Last October, the agency formally proposed listing a desert wildflower as endangered where Ioneer USA wants to dig a lithium mine halfway between Reno and Las Vegas for the mineral essential for electric car batteries.

And a U.S. judge has scheduled a hearing Jan. 5 in Reno for another lawsuit brought by conservationists, tribes and a rancher challenging a bigger mine Lithium Nevada plans near the Oregon line.

That case has focused primarily on threats to groundwater and cultural resources near a site where tribes say their ancestors were massacred by U.S. troops in 1865. But last month, Western Watersheds Project petitioned for endangered species listing of a tiny snail that lives nearby.

In the original 1978 snail darter case, the Supreme Court found “an irreconcilable conflict" between operation of the dam and compliance with the act.

After it ruled, Congress exempted the dam from the Endangered Species Act altogether. But the court's precedent remains, and it's now front and center in Nevada.

“It is clear from the Act’s legislative history," the 1978 ruling said, “that Congress intended to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction — whatever the cost.”

Scott Sonner, The Associated Press

Loo rolled: Japan’s oldest toilet damaged as driver backed up

Worker mistakenly accelerated while the car was in reverse, crashing into the building’s roughly 500-year old wooden door

The Toyota was reversed into the ancient communal toilet by a man who works for the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association. Photograph: Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education

Justin McCurry in TokyoTue 18 Oct 2022

Japan’s oldest existing toilet, dating back hundreds of years, has been damaged after it was accidentally rammed by a car driven by an employee of an organisation that preserves cultural relics.

The 30-year-old man, who works for the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association, damaged the communal toilet, located inside Tofukuji temple in Kyoto, after he mistakenly accelerated while the vehicle was in reverse, crashing into the building’s wooden door, according to media reports.

The man, who has not been named, immediately called police after the incident on Monday morning. No one else was inside the Zen Buddhist temple at the time of the accident, and the driver was unhurt.


The sento owners making group bathing in Japan cool again

The “tosu” restroom, an important cultural property, was built during the Muromachi period about 500 years ago for use by trainee monks, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

Its 2-metre-tall double door and interior pillars were damaged in the incident, the Sora News 24 website reported.

A photo in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper showed the car – a 20-year-old Toyota WiLL Vi – inside the building surrounded by what was left of the wooden doors.

The temple, which could accommodate up to 100 monks at a time, contains a row of about 20 toilets, according to the Asahi Shimbun. The newspaper said the conveniences were still in use as recently as the start of the Meiji era (1868-1912).

Fortunately for the hapless driver, who had been visiting the ancient capital on business, experts say the damage can be repaired.

Toshio Ishikawa, director of the temple’s research institute, said he was “stunned” by the extent of the damage, but relieved that no one had been injured. “We’d like to restore it before the autumn foliage season, but it will probably take until the new year [to repair it],” he told the Kyoto Shimbun.

While the building is usually closed to visitors, the rows of toilets can be viewed through gaps in the building’s exterior.

The toilets – little more than circular holes cut into blocks of stone – are a far cry from the modern-day Japanese toilets that continue to fascinate foreign visitors.

While they did not feature bidet or drying functions, the temple’s toilets were at least located in a convenient place for monks who spent many hours trying to achieve Zen enlightenment – right next to the meditation hall.

'Swift-footed lizard' named Massachusetts state dinosaur


BOSTON (AP) — A “swift-footed lizard” that lived millions of years ago in what is now Massachusetts has been named the state's official dinosaur under legislation signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Charlie Baker.

Podokesaurus holyokensis received more than 60% of the roughly 35,000 votes cast in a social media campaign initiated early last year by state Rep. Jack Lewis, beating out another dinosaur that was also discovered in the state.

“If I think about my own childhood ... the thing that got me interested in science in the first place was dinosaurs," the Republican governor said at the signing ceremony at the Museum of Science in Boston, with some of the state's leading paleontologists standing behind him. “And the main reason they got me interested is because of their majesty, and their ferocity and their almost alien-being status. As a kid, they just created wonder."

Lewis came up with the idea of a state dinosaur while trying to find engaging projects for the Cub Scout den he led during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project did not just get people involved in science, but also taught them about the legislative process, the Framingham Democrat said.

Podokesaurus holyokensis, which means “swift-footed lizard of Holyoke,” was discovered in western Massachusetts in 1910 by Mount Holyoke College professor Mignon Talbot, “the first woman to find, discover, name and describe a dinosaur," Lewis said.

“Hopefully if this project inspires just a couple young girls to grow up and explore paleontology, it would have been all worth it,” he said.

The species was 3 to 6 feet (around 1 to 2 meters) in length, weighed approximately 90 pounds (40 kilograms), and was estimated to run 9 to 12 mph (14 to 19 kph), Lewis has said.

Baker called the creature “a tough, spunky underdog from Holyoke."

About a dozen other states also have official state dinosaurs, Lewis said.

The Associated Press

NORTH VANCOUVER

Archaeologist Bob Muckle digs deeper into shelf-worthy new book at MONOVA

Anyone who has closely followed the adventures of Capilano University professor and archaeologist Bob Muckle will be familiar with his groundbreaking discovery in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve.

Now, those few who have long awaited the finer details on his unexpected unearthing of an unknown 20th century Japanese settlement can dig deeper into the story, thanks to the release of Forgotten Things: The Story of the Seymour Valley Archaeology Project.

Muckle's much anticipated book takes the reader through the entirety of the two-decade archaeology project, from the very beginning when the idea was first formed, through his work in the field with school students, the discovery and excavation of archaeological sites and to the final disposition of the artifacts in museums.

Approachable and interesting, with layman's terms, illustrations and student anecdotes, the book belongs on the shelves of historians, students, archaeologists and the general public alike.

"It is an interesting and fairly unique book of its kind in the sense that its target is both university students, as a case study in archaeology, but I also wrote it with the public in mind," said Muckle.

"Anybody who is really interested in archaeology as a whole, and how we do our work, and how we think and how we figure things out, it will be interesting to them. Alongside anybody who is really interested in local history, particularly in North Vancouver."

Muckle said the book answers his most often fielded questions, including what his biggest challenges had been, what his other excavations have produced, and what artifact had been his most interesting to find. They are questions he expects to delve into once more on Wednesday (Oct. 19) evening, when he hosts a talk and a Q&A session on the book at the Museum of North Vancouver.

Afterwards guests can obtain signed copies of the book and wander the galleries of the museum, where much of the Muckle's noteworthy findings call home.

Forgotten Things: Seymour Valley Archaeology with Bob Muckle takes place at MONOVA, 115 West Esplanade in North Vancouver, on Oct. 19, between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., tickets are $12-$20 and can be purchased on the museum's website.

Mina Kerr-Lazenby, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News

Agrotechnicians' hard work helps increase cotton yield, quality in Egypt

A man collects harvested cotton at a farm in Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, Sept. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

With agrotechnicians' great efforts, Egypt sees another harvest of cotton that has further improved in both quantity and quality.

by Mahmoud Fouly

KAFR EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bathed in the warm sun and pleasant breezes of the Mediterranean, cotton bolls bloomed on the research farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station in Kafr El-Sheikh in the Nile Delta region of northern Egypt, turning the land into a white blanket.

A dozen of cotton pickers were hard at work, removing the bolls from cotton plants and putting them into small bags. On the side of the field, huge burlap sacks of cotton piled up like a small hill.

Two varieties of cotton were grown on the research farm, Giza 97, one of the most cultivated cotton varieties in Egypt, and Giza 93, one of the best cotton varieties in the world in terms of quality.



A woman harvests cotton at a farm in Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, Sept. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

This year's harvest on the farm will provide Egyptian agrotechnicians with the information to further improve the breeding and cultivation of the two cotton varieties.

Salah Saber, leader of the cotton seed breeding team at the research farm, said that agrotechnicians' hard efforts have made a significant contribution to the production of top-quality cotton, on which Egypt takes great pride.

"We have succeeded in breaking the negative correlation between the cotton yield and quality, and managed to get both at the same time," he said.

He explained that a feddan (0.42 hectare) of cotton, which used to produce about 7 to 8 kantars (a kantar equals 45.02 kg) of seed cotton, now produces about 12 to 13 kantars, thanks to the cotton breeding research.

Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported that the export of Egyptian cotton in the previous cotton season, which started in September 2020 and ended in August 2021, reached 1.7 million kantars.



A woman carries harvested cotton at a farm in Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, Sept. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

The CAPMAS data also showed that cotton production in the Arab world's most populous country reached 2.3 million kantars in the 2020/2021 season, a 31-percent increase over the 2019/2020 season.

Saber said that the boom in cotton production is driven by both Egypt's plans to expand the cultivation of the cash crop and improve cotton breeding and cultivating technologies.

Egypt's agrotechnicians have been seeking to create cotton varieties that satisfy the demands of farmers in terms of yield, those of merchants in terms of the quantity of lint produced, and those of the global market in terms of quality, staple length, fiber strength and softness, Saber added.


A woman shows harvested cotton at a farm in Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Sept. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Samar Salem, a cotton picker, said she was happy to work in the farm, whose research will bring benefits to the country's cotton industry and improve the living condition of millions of Egyptian farmers. ■

Slovakia LGTBI pub attacker aimed to kill prime minister, say police

The perpetrator of an attack on a pub in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava, which left two people dead, had originally intended to kill the country's prime minister, Eduard Heger, police said.


Demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia, denouncing the attack on an LGTBI pub that resulted in the death of two people.

- Dano Veselsk/TASR/dpa© Provided by News 360

The chief of the Police, Stefan Hamran, has advanced this information to the television channel JOJ, emphasizing that the attacker, a young man of 19 years, had been in the vicinity of Heger's home the same night of the event.

The perpetrator of the attack, who was carrying a firearm, approached the Prime Minister's private residence on several occasions, but when he realized that Heger was not there, he decided to change his target and went to the Bratislava pub, frequented by members of the LGTBI community.

According to Harman, the attacker had intended to kill Prime Minister Heger for some time.

The attack took place on the night of October 12 in a bar defined by its owners as "close to the gay community in the center of Bratislava".

After shooting two people and wounding a third, the perpetrator, identified as Juraj K., was found dead the next day near the headquarters of the Ministry of Education after committing suicide.

Previously, the young man had posted several messages on social networks that included homophobic and neo-Nazi hate speech.

The event sparked unrest among the Slovak population, which called for demonstrations the following day. Criticism even extended to Heger's own party, the conservative Common People, for having in its ranks members of parliament critical of the homosexual community.

OCCUPIED PALESTINE

4 arrested for murder of Arab journalist Nidal Aghbariya

Four suspects were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Nidal Aghbariya, an Arab journalist who ran the Bldtna news site, according to Israel Police.


Police at the scene of where Arab-Israeli journalist Nadal Ijbaria was shot dead in his car in the northern Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm, September 4, 2022.

© (photo credit: FLASH90)

The police's central unit, Border Police, canine units and additional forces arrested the suspects after conducting an undercover investigation. They are all residents of Umm el-Fahm between the ages of 20 and 30 years old. A pistol was found in the home of one of the suspects.

Police will request an extension of their arrest on Wednesday.

Murder sparked outrage among Israeli Arabs

Aghbariya was shot to death in his car in Umm el-Fahm in early September. The murder sparked outrage among Israeli Arabs.

The Union of Journalists in Israel said at the time it was “shaken” by the murder and expressed condolences to Aghbariya’s family.

“Israel Police must act immediately to locate the murderers and bring them to justice, and act more vigorously in order to eradicate the epidemic of violence in Arab society,” the union said.

The Hadash Party also responded to the murder, stating, “The police had known for a year that the criminal organizations had marked Nidal Aghbariya’s house. A year ago, his house was shot up when he and his family were at home, but the police did not act to arrest the criminals.

“Nidal was murdered today due to the incompetence of Israel Police,” the party said. “The murder of a journalist is an attempt to silence the voice of the Arab protest against violence and crime. The Israel Police must put an end to the neglect of Arab society, take the weapons off the streets and bring the vile murderers to justice.”

The Mossawa Center expressed outrage at the murder, stressing that Aghbariya had been shot at before “and the police were silent.”

“Tonight, they killed him so that every Arab journalist would know that he had better not deal with crime and corruption,” said the center. “It is unfortunate that the Arab journalists were left alone. On the one hand, they suffer from the violence of the police, and on the other hand, from the violence of the criminal organizations.”

The Umm el-Fahm Municipality eulogized Aghbariya, saying, “The late, the slain and the deceased media figure... was known for nothing but goodness, honesty, good morals, [he was] a generous and religious person, loved by all who knew him; a great loss for Umm el-Fahm.”

The municipality condemned the murder and called on the police to take action.

Germany finalizes its law to legalize the possession and sale of cannabis

The Government is finalizing the details of the reform that aims to legalize the possession and sale of cannabis, which will authorize the possession of up to 20 grams for those over 18 years of age and will generally prohibit the advertising of the product.

The draft also includes a specific regulation for young people, according to the media conglomerate RND, although the government prefers not to make an official statement for now, waiting for the project to be fully agreed.

The text would authorize the domestic cultivation of up to two plants and would limit to 15 percent the proportion of THC in legal cannabis. For people between 18 and 21 years of age, this percentage will be reduced to 10 percent, with the aim of avoiding brain damage.

The "controlled distribution of cannabis to adults for consumption in authorized stores" is among the commitments of the "traffic light" coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals. The Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, has predicted a definitive text by the end of the year and foresees for 2023 the start of the parliamentary procedures.

The government estimates that some four million adults consume cannabis in Germany and, according to Lauterbach, its moderate and safe use "is part of a modern society".

THE GRIFT

Eric Trump's Remarks About Secret Service Resurface Amid New Revelations

Gerrard Kaonga - 

A video where Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, said Secret Service officers were charged discounted rates while staying at Trump-owned hotels while they were protecting Trump has resurfaced following new revelations.


Eric Trump attends the Veterans Day Parade opening ceremony on November 11, 2019 in New York City. A member of the Secret Service is seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on August 9, 2022. A video where Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, said Secret Service officers were given discount while staying at hotels to protect Trump have resurfaced following new revelations.© Getty

An investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said that despite claims by the Trump Organization that Secret Service agents traveling with Trump to Trump-owned properties stayed for free or at cost, the service was allegedly charged rates as high as $1,185 per room, per night, on dozens of trips.

In total, agents were reportedly charged as much as five times over the average governmental rate for hotel stays while on protection details for President Trump and his family.

The total bill came to approximately $1.4 million, according to records newly obtained by Congress.

Following this, a video of Eric Trump speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit on 10 October 2019 has gone viral on Twitter.

The video has so far amassed more than 150,000 views since being posted on Monday night.

"On the day we learned that Trump charged the Secret Service 5x the standard government rate to stay at his properties, here's video proof from Eric Trump that the Trumps are lying grifters." Twitter user Eric Chapnella wrote as he shared a clip of the video Eric Trump and a news broadcast on the newly obtained records.

"This is another thing that people don't ever give us credit for," Eric Trump said in the clip.

"Anytime the government comes...they stay at our properties for free, meaning cost for housekeeping effectively, because you have to legally charge the government something.

"So everywhere that he goes, if he stays at one of our places, [the government saves] a fortune, because if they were to go across a hotel across the street they would be charging $500 a night whereas we charge them like $50," he said.

During his presidency, Trump reportedly visited his properties 547 times, including 145 visits to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, while retaining ownership in his properties.

Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, wrote a letter earlier this week to Kimberly Cheatle, director of the United States Secret Service requesting compliance with the committee's investigation request.

Maloney said members have "been seeking a full accounting of the Secret Service's expenditures at Trump Organization properties for more than two years" but still lack information.

"The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents' frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President's self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump's struggling businesses," Maloney wrote.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's office for comment.

Ancient DNA gives rare snapshot of Neanderthal family ties

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study suggests Neanderthals formed small, tightknit communities where females may have traveled to move in with their mates.



The research used genetic sleuthing to offer a rare snapshot of Neanderthal family dynamics — including a father and his teenage daughter who lived together in Siberia more than 50,000 years ago.

Researchers were able to pull DNA out of tiny bone fragments found in two Russian caves. In their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, they used the genetic data to map out relationships between 13 different Neanderthals and get clues to how they lived.

“When I work on a bone or two, it’s very easy to forget that these are actually people with their own lives and stories,” said study author Bence Viola, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto. “Figuring out how they’re related to each other really makes them much more human.”

Our ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, lived across Europe and Asia for hundreds of thousands of years. They died out around 40,000 years ago, shortly after our species, the Homo sapiens, arrived in Europe from Africa.

Scientists have only recently been able to dig around in these early humans' DNA. New Nobel laureate Svante Paabo — who is an author on this latest study — published the first draft of a Neanderthal genome a little over a decade ago.

Since then, scientists have sequenced 18 Neanderthal genomes, said lead author Laurits Skov, a geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. But it's rare to find bones from multiple Neanderthals from the same time and place, he said — which is why these cave discoveries were so special.

“If there was ever a chance to find a Neanderthal community, this would be it,” Skov said.

Related video: Pioneer Who First Sequenced the Neanderthal Genome Awarded Nobel Prize
Duration 1:31
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The caves, located in remote foothills above a river valley, have been a rich source of materials from stone tools to fossil fragments, Viola said. With their prime view of migrating herds in the valley below, researchers think the caves might have served as a short-term hunting stop for Neanderthals.

Archaeologists excavating the caves have found remains from at least a dozen different Neanderthals, Viola said. These remains usually come in small bits and pieces — “a finger bone here, a tooth there” — but they’re enough for scientists to extract valuable DNA details.

The researchers were able to identify a couple of relatives among the group. Along with the father and daughter, there was a pair of other relatives — maybe a boy and his aunt, or a couple of cousins.

Overall, the analysis found that everyone in the group had a lot of DNA in common. That suggests that at least in this area, Neanderthals lived in very small communities of 10 to 20 individuals, the authors concluded.

But not everyone in these groups stayed put, according to the study.

Researchers looked at other genetic clues from mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down on the mother’s side, and the Y chromosome, which is passed down on the father’s side.

The female side showed more genetic differences than the male side — which means females may have moved around more, Skov said. It’s possible that when a female Neanderthal found a mate, she would leave home to live with his family.

University of Wisconsin anthropologist John Hawks, who was not involved in the study, said the research was an exciting application of ancient DNA evidence, even as many questions remain about Neanderthal social structures and lifestyles.

Figuring out how early humans lived is like “putting together a puzzle where we have many, many missing pieces,” Hawks said. But this study means “somebody’s dumped a bunch more pieces on the table.”

———

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Maddie Burakoff, The Associated Press