ExtinctZoo - Neanderthals Were Absolute Freaks Of Nature

Episode Date: October 13, 2024

Harder, better, faster, stronger....Daft Punk really just made a song about neanderthals.

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Co-Pilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at M365Copilot.com slash work. Of all the human species who have walked the earth, it is perhaps the Neanderthals that people are most fascinated by. Their likeness and close relationship to us has even led some to dub them as our sister species, and even their DNA can still be found within most of us to this day. While dates aren't clear, it is thought that this group of archaic humans inhabited parts of Eurasia between 400,000 and 40,000 years ago. Most of this time falls under the Chebanian stage of the Pleistocene,

a time when Eurasia was generally even colder than it is today and filled in an abundance of megafauna that made life no walk in the park. Therefore, to survive and thrive in harsh conditions, Neanderthals evolved some of the most insane biology seen in any homo species. And if alive today, some would most likely even consider them to be superhuman in a few senses. From afar, their anatomical differences to us would not be so obvious, with the likeliest contrasting feature being their height, As recovered specimens show that on average, Neanderthals were quite a bit smaller than modern humans,

typically being 14 centimeters or 5.5 inches shorter than post-World War II populations. The tallest known Neanderthal specimen, dubbed Amud I, is believed to have been about 1.78 meters or 5 foot 10 inches tall, which really doesn't seem that tall, all things considered. However, when comparing Neanderthals to European populations of 20,000 years ago, we find that Neanderthals were actually equally as tall and if not slightly taller, so that's really all to say that we don't know how tall they could have been. What's fascinating, though, is that despite being shorter than modern humans, Neanderthals were quite a bit heavier,

with the average male having weighed up to 83 kilograms or 183 pounds, while the females usually hovered around 66 kilograms or 146 pounds, making them 20% heavier than the average Homo sapien. The reason behind this paradoxical sounding information is that Neanderthals had crazy robust skeletons that were much more compacted than our own, with virtually every single bone being thicker and heavier, with them sometimes even being twice the density. Their shoulders, femurs, chest, triceps, arms, and kneecaps were especially bulky, which are all signs that they were extremely powerful and muscular in life.

And it is widely agreed upon that they were much stronger than us, a possible adaptation to their close quarter hunting tactics that involved them using giant spears to take down medium and large-sized prey, which included various rhinos, horses, elephants, and of course, woolly mammoths, which were equivalent in size to African bush elephants and sported thick coats of fur that made it that much harder to kill them. This widespread and presumably lifelong use of these spears is also what some researchers partially believe

led to the distinct Popeye-like arms seen in many Neanderthal specimens. that would have allowed them to wield weapons with ferocious intensity. The well-defined nature of their arms, an overall muscular build, was possibly also a sign of extreme levels of hormones, according to at least one study. Specifically, the researchers believe that Neanderthals were naturally pumped up with large amounts of hormones that added to their increased muscle mass

and provided them with the ability to pull off some pretty crazy feats of strength, such as lugging up to 50 pounds or 27 kilograms of meat for 30 miles or 48 kilometers, the same distance as walking 138 laps around a soccer field. What's more is that thanks to their larger chests, shoulders, and triceps, scientists assume that Neanderthals would have been pretty great wrestlers and power lifters if still around, with males possibly being able to bench press 500 pounds or 200 kilograms without training, while the females could have done 350 pounds or 160 kilos. For a little bit of context, just two-thirds of this weight would have been considered elite levels by our own standards.

Their short, bulky builds played a big role in the strength, too, but it wasn't only power that they gained from the robustness, as it bestowed upon them incredible durability as well, a nice touch to complement the brutally hard lives that many Neanderthals endured. In fact, a systemic analysis on recovered skeletons found that between 79 and 94% showed signs of extreme trauma that had fully healed. These injuries ranged from blunt force fractures all the way to traumatic amputations, with a particularly gruesome case involving an elderly Neanderthal, who during his younger years had lost his right arm,

damaged his left clavicle, was smashed so badly in the face that he was blinded in one eye, and had ears so banged up that the ear canals themselves were shut off by new bunny material that had grown after repeated injury, rendering him deaf in both ears. The high degree of damage seen in Neanderthal specimens is thought to have come from a mix of their aggressive face-to-face hunting technique, interpersonal conflicts and animal attacks,

the latter of which actually seems to have been a common occurrence, as nearly 74% of Neanderthals, based on one study, reflected evidence of having survived violent animal encounters, with 21% having been with big cats, 17% with wolves, and 36% with bears. The most hardcore part of all of this is that scientists do not think that these animal attacks were predation attempts, rather the opposite,

that the animals had been defending themselves, during Neanderthal attacks. Talk about hardcore. And to really drive this home, even their skin was designed for battle, as genes found in Neanderthals are associated with thickened skin, nails and hair that theoretically helped them cope with getting banged up and enduring the cold. And yet another adaptation that seemed to benefit their rough lifestyle were large joints, that allowed them to perform strenuous movement that would have been extremely hard or nearly impossible for a homo sapient to do. And while not necessarily larger, Neanderthal hands were also much different from our own, with their fingertips

being broader and their thumbs sticking out at a much wider angle, which likely affected the way they gripped objects. And to some, their handshape possibly meant a reduction in precision capabilities, which they made up for, though, by powerfully gripping their items and weapons. So clearly, Neanderthals were absolute units on the outside, but they were pretty crazy on the inside, too, with one of the more obvious signs being their barreled chests, which accommodated a wider rib cage and larger lungs, with studies finding that on average, Neanderthals had a lung capacity 20% greater than our own. Yet, this number widely varies, and some exceptional Neanderthals have us beaten even more badly in this area, as best demonstrated by Kibara 2, a male whose lungs

can most likely hold 9 liters of air, which is 40% greater than the capacity of the average modern man's lungs. And to make this even more impressive, keep in mind that until recently, the largest lung capacity ever recorded in an athlete was only 8.5 liters. Neanderthal's noses further supported this notion that they gobbled up air, as they were quite long and wide, which helped them move air faster, as in 100% faster in what's seen by any man or woman today. The need for speed, through their noses and their ridiculous lung capacity is thought to have been an adaptation to support their heavier bodies

and to help them survive in the colder climates. Since animals who do live in the cold, Neanderthals included, typically evolve faster metabolic rates to compensate for the rate of heat loss that they experience. This is then, of course, reflected by their energy requirements as well, as in the case of Neanderthals, it's believed that an individual needed between 4,500 and 6,700 calories every single day. So, if they were still alive, you could expect food items to have two completely separate nutrition labels, distinguishing between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The bulky nature of their noses seems to have helped directly with the cold as well,

since more room in the nasal cavity would have helped to heat and humidify the cold-dry air that was coming in. Now, because Neanderthals breed like champs, you may be thinking that they were exceptional long-distance runners, who could tire their prey to complete exhaustion, much like what is seen in modern humans. However, on the contrary, Neanderthals were surprisingly poor endurance animals, who were instead built for bursts of speed. There's actually more than one biological trait that points to this.

One example being their toes, which were fairly long and wide, allowing them to stay in contact with the floor for a longer period, and thus allowing them to generate more power and faster starts. Not to mention that their leg bones were quite short, something that's not usually seen in endurance athletes of today, who typically have longer legs to increase each stride. Even their Achilles' tendons were not designed for distance, having been long and narrow,

making them not the best at storing energy needed for longer runs. And this is once again and contrary to endurance athletes, who almost always have stiff, short, and wide Achilles tendons. And yet, while their lower extremities were the most blatant signs of speed over stamina, the true proof in the pudding came from something unseen to the naked eye. They're muscle fibers. As you may know, especially if you've done a 23ME, humans have differing types of muscle fibers that each specialize in a specialize and a

certain level of power generation to stamina ratio. For example, someone can have a higher ratio of fast twitch or slow twitch muscle fibers, the former of which helps to generate bursts of energy, while the latter can possibly help people perform better and longer lasting activities, such as endurance running. In modern humans, these fibers are mixed, and this was also the case in Neanderthals, but they typically had a way higher concentration of these fast twitch muscle fibers than we do, a likely adaptation for their hunting style, which required quick bursts of speed to get close and personal with their prey. This also means that if for whatever reason, if Neanderthals came back, be sure to challenge one to a marathon instead of a sprint, to at least give yourself

the best shot of winning. All this power and speed no doubt gave them quite a lot of brawn, but interestingly enough, they were also a lot of brain as well, as they had freakishly large brain cases. On average, the male brain cases tended to be 1,640 cubic centimeters, and in the woman, it was usually around 1,460 cubic centimeters, which makes them about 30% bigger than what's seen in contemporary humans. Now, pure size alone does not paint the full story of intelligence, but their huge brains were a good sign that they were at least far more intelligent than first thought. And today, it's widely believed that Neanderthals could perform a whole host of complex tasks, such as coordinating hunts, making tools, creating arts, taking exceptional care

of the sick, and, of course, communicating. Yet, despite the size of their brains, researchers do not necessarily think that Neanderthals had superior mental prowess compared to us, as their brains were also structurally different than ours, having a more circular bomb-like shape that had to operate a large body, and devoted larger areas to certain senses, such as, smell and eyesight, as their reciprocal lobes were relatively huge. And their eyesight is actually what some scientists think is to blame for the massive brains, as Neanderthals also had unusually big eyes, which would have required much more brain power to process what they were seeing. Of course, though, no one has ever found an intact Neanderthal eye, but based on the size and shape

of their eye sockets, it is estimated that they're about 15% larger than our own, which would have helped them see a lot better and sharper than we do, while also giving them better night vision. These eyes, in conjunction with their big brains and large noses, gave Neanderthals some pretty sizable heads and skulls that might have led to their sturdy thick necks, seeing that they had to be able to support such giant noggins. Furthermore, their heads, relative to ours, were not just bigger, but more elongated and forward projecting as well. And unsurprisingly, their other facial features were supersized too, including the jaw and teeth. It was originally thought that their thick white jaws and sturdy chompers were an indication of an insane bite force that would have let

them gnawn bones, tough meat, and a variety of abrasive foods. However, subsequent studies revealed a bite force not far from our own, with it being comparable to the bites seen in the upper range of modern humans, and would have registered at around 700 newtons. So that's to say, while it would hurt a lot to be bit, it would most likely not cause any catastrophic wounds, at least most of the time. This does call into question, though, why did they have such large mouths and teeth, if not for a strong bite? And one interesting idea claims that the answer is that the jaw was simply widened in order to accommodate the teeth themselves, which had essentially evolved to be a third hand. To be exact, a group of researchers believed that Neanderthals would have used their teeth

to grip and manipulate different items, thus freeing up both of their hands. for other uses. And there is some evidence that backs this, as besides being grippy in structure in nature, Neanderthal dentition have wear and tear patterns to the front that don't really align with eating or chewing, and is only found in Neanderthals, suggesting that they bit objects with their front teeth quite a lot. The bulky nature of each tooth may have also been an important part in processing their diets, which we know based on isotopic analysis consisted of large amounts of meat. So much so, in fact, that they are considered to have been hyper-carivores. In other words, 70% of their huge caloric need came from meat alone. At this point, I wouldn't

blame you for thinking Neanderthals were quite funky and different compared to us. You may be wondering what impact this has on you if you're one of the many with Neanderthal DNA, for example, if it means super strength or a voracious appetite for meat. Well, simply put, nearly every study on the matter so far has not yielded any significant results. And most maintain that Neanderthal DNA usually only has subtle effects on athletic feats and physical appearances. Although, there is a growing list of studies that suggest that their DNA may have had greater impacts on our internal systems than we once thought. That being said, many of these studies have conflicted with each other, and there is a lot of disagreement in general on just how impactful Neanderthal DNA really is.

But what no one is in disagreement with is just how amazing these extinct humans were. Thanks for watching, and until next time. On a good. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter.