Humans and Neanderthals were frequent lovers

Early humans had sex with Neanderthals and other primitive cousins far more often than thought, according to a new study. DNA tests on ancient remains show that the two species interbred at'multiple points in time' over the course of the 35,000 years they shared the plains of Eurasia. Researchers said the crossbreeding began shortly after humans came into contact with Neanderthals after they began to pour out of Africa around 75,000 years ago. Previous studies have shown that around two per cent of our DNA is made up of Neanderthal genes, passed down when they mated with our ancestors. Until now, it was not known how often the two species interbred - and many scientists believed the shared DNA came from a one-off encounter.