European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday february 9,1986 those brain neanderthals National Gnu Ipac in the pointing of Chrtt Tyum of Homo Tapuni the Noan Dorthal it la Man in if Mph. National geographic neanderthal that derogatory Label should be dropped from the name calling vocabulary of the late 20th  Cavemen of the cartoonists neanderthals have been the most maligned and misunderstood of All the Early human ancestors. When the first neanderthal Bones were found in Germany s Neander Valley in the mid-19th Century no one was prepared for a primitive Skeleton in the human  at that time virtually everyone assumed that Mankind had always had the same form As modern humans. No one had any idea of the vast age of the Earth or of the Long evolutionary history of Home nods members of the family of Man. In tracing Man s 4 million year heritage of walking upright National geographic science editor Kenneth f. Weaver reports that having neanderthals on the Homo Sapiens family tree would be no disgrace. Despite their backward brutish image neanderthals had big brains that on the average were even larger than modern Man s and just As Well developed. Were not so different in body although distinctly More robust with rather Short Tower limbs. Were the first people known to Bury their dead. They May have believed in spirits and perhaps in an afterlife. In a number of the More famous burials Stone tools and other objects were carefully positioned near the bodies. Were the first humans to move into truly cold climates enduring miserable Winters and taking Refuge in caves and Rock shelters their Large brain enabled them to find ways to adapt to extreme climates. Fashioned specialized Stone tools and weapons classified As Mou Sterlan that were finer and More carefully shaped than those of an earlier species Homo rectus. Had Strong social Bonds. The Skeleton of the old Man of la Chapelle Aux saints France shows that despite a broken rib severe hip arthritis diseased vertebrae and almost no Teeth he survived until the age of perhaps 40. Clearly his Fellows were caring for  Weaver writes. This Case and a number  like it bespeak altruism and a social conscience that one would hardly have expected from neanderthal brutes " Why the bad reputation the neanderthal Skeleton was the first Fossil Home old discovery to be publicized. The Bones found by Limestone miners quarrying into a Cave near Dusseldorf in 1bs6, fell into the hands of the local science teacher. He would not have thought in genealogical terms when examining the Beetle bowed Low sloping Skullcap part of a Pelvis and some limb Bones. Rather he concluded that the remains were those of a refugee from Noah s flood. Others decided that the creature was some poor idiotic  a sufferer from rickets or a deserter from the Cossack army that had camped nearby during the Napoleonic wars. This false picture was perpetuated when the nearly Complete Skeleton of the old Man of la Chapelle Aux saints was found in 1908. Marcellyn Boule an authority on fossils who undertook to reconstruct the Skeleton created the image of a hulking dimwitted brute who shuffled with the Bent knee gait of an ape. Today with specimens from More than 100 Sites anthropologists have corrected that impression. Relatively Large quantities of remains have been found because the neanderthals burled their dead. But mystery still surrounds these people. They Are somewhat difficult to place in time. Neanderthals seem to appear in Europe about 125,000 years ago. They disappear some say quite abruptly at some time Between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. During the relatively Short Span of about 100,000 years the neanderthals spread All across Europe the Middle East and Western and Central Asia. They were contemporaries of other forms of archaic Homo Sapiens found As far away As China and South Africa. Did the neanderthals die out or lose out in Competition with arriving populations who displaced or absorbed them All we know Weaver writes is that they disappeared and that by 30,000 years ago a robust version of modern humans had replaced them  More than a pair of pretty wings by Barbara 8. Moffet National geographic news service the ultimate flying machine May be neither Birdner plane but the  autumn millions of them prove it most of the Monarch population East of the Rocky mountains travels South funnelling through Texas on a 2,000-mile journey to wintering grounds in Central Mexlon. On the Way they overcome wind turbulence that could turn on the fasten seat Belt sign on a passenger Jet and certainly would overwhelm an ultralight aircraft. Or. David l. Gibo associate professor of zoology at the University of Toronto can verify that. He put together an ultralight a hang Gilder with an engine in Hopes of chasing monarchs through the skies to learn their secrets of flight. After a few attempts to Tan them he retired to the ground to observe them with binoculars. Once we were waiting for them Down in Texas and a cold front came through thousands of them were Riding it Gibo recalls. If we had stayed up we d have been risking our lives. We went up the next Day and were bounced around like  glob s observations in Canada and along migration routes on the East coast and in Texas have shown the Monarch Mon Orth butter flies during migration. To be a master at exploiting wind currents. Monarchs save Energy by Riding thermals rising air masses that lift them to favourable altitudes. They will Fly anywhere from ground level up to 7,000 feet above Many Light air planes. They will Flap like Birds at an average 10 to 12 Mph or soar of conserve Energy. They can accelerate to 25 Mph. Nobody imagined the flight strategy of an insect could be so complicated Gibo says. It s As Complex As anything a Bird  the Monarch in t bothered by wind Shear its four Inch wingspan is too Small to be affected. The hurricanes that terrify people Are opportunities for monarchs. Hurricane Gloria which roared up the East coast in late september As the butterflies were beginning their southwesterly trip probably saved Many of them time and Energy. The counterclockwise spin of the Hurricane spawned wind currents in just the direction the monarchs needed to go says Gibo. Gloria acted As a warm merry go round that could easily have taken them for a 100-mile  though they have an uncanny ability to find their Way monarchs occasionally find themselves in the wrong place. Strong winds have transported a few of the Orange and Black butterflies All the Way across the Atlantic to England where they Don t occur naturally. Some scientists believe they navigate by cues from Earth s magnetic Field though it s not certain another Monarch mystery exactly where they go in Winter was solved 10 years ago when a lofty wooded site. Its Trees dripping with resting monarchs was discovered in Central Mexico. It was already known that most monarchs West of the Rockies spend the season in Southern California. None of the millions of monarchs that embark every september for Mexico has Ever been there before and none will return there. Flying by Day with stops for foraging on blossoms they converge each night to rest. Their tearing kills Are so efficient Gibo says that they arrive in Mexico fat and healthy having gained not lost weight on the trip. They huddle by the millions on the Chilly mexican hillsides sometimes breaking off fir tree branches with their weight. No one knows exactly Why they have chosen that area. In mountains Northwest of Mexico City. From november to March they remain there in Semi dormancy resembling masses of Pale dead leaves but when warm breezes stir they begin to mate. The males will stay in Mexico to die the females depart for the journey North