Draft 38

(Adapted from Developmental Biology essay)

Homo Lontra is a species of hominid located in modern day coastal Europe. Upon increased competition from the Homo Sapien invasion of Eurasia due to their emigration out of Africa, Homo Neanderthalensis was forced to the coast, outcompeted for access to many land animals and foraging areas. There, Homo Lontra evolved from Neanderthals, with visible adaptions for a diet of coastal marine foraging.  This included webbed feet for better aquatic propulsion, a hardened enamel for consuming hard-shelled marine animals, and the re-evolution of dense body hair to protect their bodies from the cold European winters and water. These traits are similar to those of other aquatic mammals-such as otters (Homo Lontra’s namesake)-but a complete molecular and developmental analysis must be performed in order to determine their true origins.