Ella Al-Shamahi

But there's no evidence for them in Africa.

There's no genetic evidence either.

Although, yeah, I mean, that's a slightly different topic.

We'll get into interbreeding, I'm sure, in a second.

So let me stop there.

No.

I need it, that's fine.

Okay, so this is taxonomy.

So we're in Nerdy Bunch and we have all these rules about how you... They're called the a priori rules in taxonomy.

And basically what that means is when you name a species, whoever names the species first, you call dibs.

I know that sounds insane, but it's... It makes sense.

So if you found a fossil and...

You just think of the most ridiculous name for it.

Yes, there we go.

Although you can't call it after yourself, so somebody else would have to name it.

So essentially, you've called dibs on that species.

And anyone that comes after, if I come along and I want to give it a more respectable name, I technically have to go by your name and colleagues have to then take your name as well.

Does that make sense?

So basically, the thing with the Neanderthals is...

It was a mispronunciation and a mis-spelling, I guess, of a German name because it's Neanderthal Valley, but the Anglos were basically saying Neanderthal.