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Human population nearly went extinct – with just 1,280 people left

Human population nearly went extinct – with just 1,280 people left

Metro21-06-2025
Hiyah Zaidi Published June 20, 2025 12:50pm Link is copied Comments Humans have been around for a while, but we haven't always been an abundant species. In fact, ancient humanity was almost wiped out around 900,000 years ago and the global population dwindled to a mere 1,280 reproducing individuals, a study claims. And the researchers also claim that they stayed like this for 117,000 years. So, what is going on? (Picture: Getty) The study, which is published in the journal Science, reveals human ancestors in Africa almost faced extinction, and the research suggests there was a drastic reduction in the population of our ancestors well before our species, Homo sapiens, also known as modern humans, emerged. The information is based on a new computer model developed by a group of scientists based in China, Italy and the United States (Picture: Getty) The researchers used a statistical method and gathered genetic information from 3,154 present-day human genomes. They found that around 98.7% of human ancestors were lost. The researchers say that the population crash matches with a gap in the fossil record. They say this could have led to a new hominin species that was a common ancestor of modern humans, or Homo sapiens, and Neanderthals (Picture: Getty) Senior author Dr Yi-Hsuan Pan, an evolutionary and functional genomicist at East China Normal University, said: 'The novel finding opens a new field in human evolution because it evokes many questions, such as the places where these individuals lived, how they overcame the catastrophic climate changes, and whether natural selection during the bottleneck has accelerated the evolution of the human brain' (Picture: Getty) The exact cause is unknown, but it is thought that the near-extinction has been blamed on Africa's climate getting much colder and drier. Dr Pan said: 'The novel finding opens a new field in human evolution by raising many new questions. 'Where did these individuals live? How did they overcome catastrophic climate change? And did natural selection during the bottleneck affect their evolution? All this remains to be answered' (Picture: Getty) It's fine to say 900,000 years ago, but in what period of human evolution did this happen? The researchers say that the signature of this bottleneck can be seen in the genetics of people with non-African heritage. Therefore, it would have been hundreds of thousands of years before humans migrated outside of Africa. The researchers estimated that there would have been an effective population size of around 1,280 individuals between 930,000 and 813,000 years ago. But, this doesn't mean this was the entire population, only this number successfully bred and passed on their genes to the next generation (Picture: Getty) The bottleneck also coincided with dramatic changes in climate during what's known as the mid-Pleistocene transition. At this time, glacial periods became longer and more intense, leading to a drop in temperature and very dry climatic conditions. However, the researchers also suggested that the control of fire, as well as the climate shifting to be more hospitable for human life, may have led to a later rapid population increase around 813,000 years ago (Picture: Getty)
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This year, the Delta Aquariid meteor shower will peak on July 30, but is active from July 12 to August 23.
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This year, the Delta Aquariid meteor shower will peak on July 30, but is active from July 12 to August 23.

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This year, the Delta Aquariid meteor shower will peak on July 30, but is active from July 12 to August 23.
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Neanderthals were not ‘hypercarnivores' and feasted on maggots, scientists say
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Neanderthals were not ‘hypercarnivores' and feasted on maggots, scientists say

For hungry Neanderthals, there was more on the menu than wild mammals, roasted pigeon, seafood and plants. Chemical signatures in the ancient bones point to a nutritious and somewhat inevitable side dish: handfuls of fresh maggots. The theory from US researchers undermines previous thinking that Neanderthals were 'hypercarnivores' who stood at the top of the food chain with cave lions, sabre-toothed tigers and other beasts that consumed impressive quantities of meat. Rather than feasting on endless mammoth steaks, they stored their kills for months, the scientists believe, favouring the fatty parts over lean meat, and the maggots that riddled the putrefying carcasses. 'Neanderthals were not hypercarnivores, their diet was different,' said John Speth, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Michigan. 'It's likely maggots were a major food.' Neanderthals were thought to be top of the food chain because of the high levels of heavy nitrogen in their bones. Nitrogen builds up in living organisms when they metabolise protein in their food. A lighter form of the element, nitrogen-14, is excreted more readily than the heavier form, nitrogen-15. As a result, heavy nitrogen builds up in organisms with each step up the food chain, from plants to herbivores to carnivores. While the levels of heavy nitrogen in Neanderthal bones place them at the top of the food chain, they would not have been able to handle the amount of meat needed to reach those levels, the researchers say. 'Humans can only tolerate up to about 4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, whereas animals like lions can tolerate anywhere from two to four times that much protein safely,' said Speth. Since many Indigenous groups around the world routinely consume maggots in putrefied meat, the researchers decided to explore their potential role. The experiments were not for the squeamish. Dr Melanie Beasley, a member of the team at Purdue University in Indiana, was formerly at the Forensic Anthropology Center, or Body Farm, at the University of Tennessee. There, researchers study donated human corpses that are left to decompose. The work helps forensic scientists hone their techniques, for example, to ascertain for how long people have been dead. Beasley measured heavy nitrogen in putrefying muscle and the maggots that infested the corpses. Heavy nitrogen rose slightly as muscle putrefied, but was far higher in the maggots. The same process would have occurred in carcasses the Neanderthals stored, Beasley said. The finding, reported in Science Advances, suggests that rather than consuming meat as ravenously as lions and other hypercarnivores, Neanderthals acquired high levels of heavy nitrogen by eating maggots, which themselves were enriched with heavy nitrogen. 'The only reason this is surprising is that it contradicts what we westerners think of as food,' said Karen Hardy, professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Glasgow. 'Elsewhere in the world, a very wide range of things are eaten, and maggots are a great source of protein, fat and essential amino acids.' 'It is a no brainer for Neanderthals,' she added. 'Put out a bit of meat, leave it for a few days then go back and harvest your maggots, its a very easy way to get good nutritious food.' 'How does it shift our thinking? The Neanderthals as top carnivores was nonsense, it was physiologically impossible. So this makes sense, but also explains these high nitrogen signals in a way that nothing else has done so clearly,' Hardy said.

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