A woman who gifted her boyfriend an at-home DNA test for Christmas was left reeling by the results.
Diamond Jane, 25, gifted her boyfriend Garrett a 23andMe test, and when the results came back, they learned he had Neanderthal DNA—and quite a lot of it.
And while Diamond Jane was "laughing" about the result, her partner finds it "empowering."
She told Newsweek: "He feels lucky to have close ties to the first humans to roam the Earth."
Neanderthals were early humans who lived around 400,000 years ago and went extinct around 40,000 years ago, and are recognized as our closest ancient human relatives.
For part of their existence, Neanderthals lived alongside early modern humans, and some bred together, with some humans inheriting Neanderthal DNA, according to the U.K.'s Natural History Museum.
And in a viral video shared to her TikTok account @diamondmaglietta on June 11, Diamond Jane first showed a photograph of the pair together before then revealing the results of the test.
It told Garrett he had "more Neanderthal DNA than 82 percent of other customers."
And, writing on the video, Diamond Jane said she found out "more than I wanted to know," but "at least we didn't find out we're related."
Having been viewed 2.5 million times and garnering 203,000 likes, the comments were filled with hundreds telling their own stories, including one who joked: "My husband found out the same thing and honestly it explains so much."
"My dad got 93 percent and swears it's a flex," another said, and one revealed their friend found out they had 89 percent: "I made fun of her relentlessly, then I did 23andMe... I have 92 percent."
"The way I would never let this go," one user wrote, with Diamond Jane replying: "I haven't."
Speaking to Newsweek, the certified nursing assistant from California said of her partner: "Growing up I've always heard of the word 'Neanderthal' as an insult but apparently, to him, it's empowering."
She explained: "I thought it would be a fun and interesting way to get to know him better and he enjoyed finding out about his family history because he's always talked about wanting to know more about it."
Genetic testing outside of a medical setting has exploded in popularity in recent years, with the likes of 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage and more all offering ways to explore your background.
Like Garrett and some of the commenters, sometimes people can learn they have Neanderthal DNA from these tests: earlier this year, one man went viral after his test results showed he possessed 98 percent more than the average person.
At the time, Newsweek spoke to Cesar de la Fuente, a University of Pennsylvania engineering presidential assistant professor involved in research into ancient DNA.
He said: "Results like this could imply significant interbreeding between an individual's ancestors and Neanderthals, but further research is likely needed to confirm this and understand its implications accurately.
"The effects of Neanderthal DNA remains a very much active area of research."
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