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Modern europeans may have acquired genes that helped them adapt to the cold and absorb more vitamin d through interbreeding with:

User Onezeno
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Around 100,000 years ago there was a second hominine species closely related to modern humans, Homo neanderthalensis, or commonly called the Neanderthal. Recent studies of neanderthal DNA have shown that there is 3-4% of their genes in modern humans outside of Africa, mostly from Europe, including the ones for adapting to the cold and vitamin D absorption.
User Chris Herring
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