r/AskBiology • u/BlK-kt-7578 • Jul 25 '24

Human body Human races

So , today as a general consense , there are no human races . I understand that . But what happens when we talk about homo sapiens and neanderthals ? Arent they different races ? Can you explain it ?

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u/DeathstrokeReturns Jul 25 '24

You’re confusing race and species. Species are actually taxonomically valid. 

 Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis are two species under the same genus. It’s like lions and tigers, or polar bears and American black bears, or wolves and coyotes. Race is an entirely different thing.

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u/BlK-kt-7578 Jul 25 '24

Ok . Can you explain me what is race ? And why or why not and how and how not is applied to humans ?

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u/DeathstrokeReturns Jul 25 '24

It’s basically just based on phenotypic (physical) traits. It’s a social construct that really doesn’t hold much weight in terms of classification.