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A well-preserved skull of a 600,000-year ape-woman, discovered in Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province, has been used to investigate links with Europe counterparts, says China Daily on Mar.12.

The ape-woman' fossilized skull was found in 1992 along with the skull of an ape-man in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.

The ape-woman has recently demonstrated her beauty to scientists as her existence allegedly proves the "marital relations" or genetic hybridization between Chinese and European ape-man.

The ape-woman, living roughly at the same period as the Peking Man, had a high nose bridge and a mound-like bulge at the lower part of her mouth.

"The protruding nose and the paranasal bulge are rarely seen in China, but are common in European fossils especially in Neanderthal lineage," said Xu Hankui, a researcher with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

"The existence of these features in Nanjing skull might suggest a small amount of gene exchange between China and Europe at the time", said Xu.

At the time, the lands of Asia, Europe and Africa were connected and interaction among the ape-men populations was possible, he added.