ExtinctZoo - The Human Species That Shouldn't Exist

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

Deep in a South African cave, scientists uncovered a human species unlike any other - small, strange, and seemingly out of place in time. Who were they, what were they doing there, and why do their bones tell such a baffling story? Meet Homo naledi, the mystery buried in the dark.

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Co-Pilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at M365Copilot.com slash work. Realize it or not, Homo sapiens, aka us, are just one of over a dozen species of humans that make up our genus, Homo, which unsurprisingly translates to man. And while specifics are hard to nail down, it's currently thought that the first species of our kind emerged about 2.8 million years ago, with this given date being based off of the discovery of the specimen L.D. 350-1, a badly damaged adult left jawbone that is believed to have possibly belonged to, the ancestor of either the Homo habilis or Rudolfensis.

and is currently the oldest verified Homo specimen. And since the very first humans have appeared, each new Homo species that evolved has tended to follow a certain pattern, wherein each new iteration has become less archaic and primitive, while also becoming more derived. At the same time, our ancestors' technological prowess tended to get more advanced through time as well. But, in 2015, a brand-new and very unusual human species was discovered within South Africa that totally flipped what we thought we knew about our species' evolution on its head. As despite being one of the youngest known human species to date, it seemed like it was dropped out of a tie machine, having primitive features you'd expect to find in our earliest ancestors,

not one of our most recent cousins. And frankly, that's just one of the many mysteries surrounding it. And so, who was this you ask? Well, let me introduce you to Homoanelli, also known as the Starman. To date, this species is known from not just, only a single location, but also just one cave alone, name the Rising Star Cave, hence the nickname. And it's here that every single Noletti that we are aware of has been found. This cavernous system is one of the most perilous ones out there and essentially took decades for scientists to explore. And from the get-go, it presented researchers

with a very strange problem, which was, how exactly did the Noletti even get there? But we'll circle back to that later. What's more important now is the fact that within this cave, the team found not just a single specimen, or even a few damaged ones, but instead multiple skeletons. over 15 that not only ranged in age and gender, but were also extremely well preserved, all things considered, with the original expedition alone yielding in excess of 1,500 pieces of bone, giving researchers a pretty good idea of what these human skeletons looked like. Additionally, the quality of their remains allowed for more precise dating, with the species now believed to have originated and existed between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene,

which is in fact around the same time when our own species first emerged. But here's the weird thing, despite us knowing their age and having a vast collection of their bones, we still don't really know where they belong in our family tree, or which human species they're even closest to, as they don't really look their age, so you could say, possessing anatomy that can be summed up as a mix of features from more recent hominence, like ourselves and Neanderthals, and those of our ancient ancestors from long ago. For starters, they were exceptionally small for their time, with the known specimens possessing an average height of just 143. centimeters, or four-foot-nine inches, across both males and females. True, short kings and queens. But then they also had slender builds and bodies, which rendered them light as feathers, figuratively

speaking, with most individuals having been less than 40 kilos or 90 pounds, about 35% smaller than your typical Homo sapien, which also makes them the second smallest humans on the planet during their existence, with the first place crown going to Homo Floriances, a species that lived in Indonesia. But in the defense of the latter, they were restricted to an island. island, resulting in insular dwarfism, while the Noletti, on the other hand, lived in mainland Africa, making their small size a bit more unusual. So definitely interesting, but for anthropologists, what was even more odd wasn't their stature, but their confuddling hands. You see, the actual hands themselves seem to have possessed derived wrist morphologies and a robust thumb,

characteristics very similar to what's seen in Neanderthals and us, modern humans. However, at the same time, its other fingers couldn't be more different, as each were purported. proportionally long and highly curved. Traits typically regarded as archaic, as long curved fingers are unsurprisingly better for grasping things. Those things specifically being trees. In fact, in the case in the Noletti, its hands were seemingly even better adapted for climbing than those of our forefathers, the Australopithecines, an ancient group to which specimens like

Lucy belong to, and who are often considered to be much better climbers than we are. Furthermore, beyond the hands, the Noletti's rib cage, shoulders, and pelvis were all more older in style as well. And when combined, and their apologers are quite certain that they would have been a group of humans who spent more of their time in trees compared to other homo species, despite their wrists and thumbs being very similar to our own. And their apparent more arboreal lifestyle was perhaps for protection against predators due to their smaller size. Yet, the mystery isn't solved with this, because as it turns out, they were also oddly capable of walking on the ground as well, possessing strong insertion of butt muscles, developed Linnea Aspera, broad

a patele, a length in tibia, and grass outfibuley, which is all undeniable evidence that along with being a big tree hugger, these guys were still bipeds that stood upright, and would have been capable of traveling long distances on the ground. Plus, while their fingers were not like ours, their feet were. And thus, not only could they get around on the floor, but they would have done so in a very human fashion, so to speak, having a nearly indistinguishable walking pattern from our own. And so, this unique blend of adaptations for both tree life and ground life has raised a lot of interest as to why. And the answers vary, with some ideas simply claiming the Noletti were humans stuck in time, but more grounded ideas put forth try to answer this question based off of what South Africa was like at the time,

which was a bit drier than normal, especially seeing that a few million years prior, Africa had begun a general transition from forests to savannas, and thus trees were fewer and farther in between. Therefore, it's thought, the Noletti might have spent a good chunk of their time in one location, but given the lack of forest density, they would have been periodically forced to move from place to place after resources dwindled. And some speculate that because they were found in a cave, that their build could have also aided in scaling cliffs and boulders, and overall may have acted as a home.

However, being good at climbing trees doesn't necessarily mean this. Plus, within the cave itself, not a single human artifact is known of that would suggest anyone was living there long term. And one more piece of information that has been added to this walking slash tree conundrum was its teeth, of all things, which were highly unique for a human species. You see, despite being abnormally small, the teeth still had rather thickened enamel, which totally went against the usual trends seen in homo species, whereas over time, enamel usually got thinner. And along with retaining this archaic feature, their molar morphology was also more like that of earlier hominins,

resulting in some unusually durable teeth. Additionally, many of the individuals found had teeth that were in poor condition, which in conjunction with their design made scientists hypothesize that the Noletti, despite being more arboreal than normal, still ate on, or rather off, the floor. And I really do mean the floor floor floor, or the ground floor, as the wear and tear pattern suggest dirty and gritty food particles, which are often seen from underground food, like raw tubers. And at least to a point tells us both their feeding habits and that their dental hygiene

wasn't exactly their strong suit. What's also funny is that even though the shape of the teeth were different than ours, they still formed and grew in a way that was similar to what's seen in modern humans, which is not doing us any favors when it comes to figuring out where they belong on our family tree. So overall, here you have a human species that's relatively young, existing at the same time that we ourselves did, but still as a great climber, has weird old-looking teeth, but walks just fine, and chooses to eat a rather modest diet, filled with dirt and grit, which at the end may have you questioning their behavior. And as you might guess, the Noletti's brain was in no way normal either and goes against what we knew or thought we knew about human brains. Now, given its body size,

it was clear straight away that this group possessed much smaller brains than what's usually seen. And this turned out to be the case, with the average Noletti possessing a cranium of only about 465 to 610 centimeters cubed, which is, in other words, basically half the size of our own brains, and comparable to how big ours are during the first few months of life, i.e. when we're infants. And so despite being much smaller in general, this brain size was tiny to the extent that their nougains were quite small compared to their overall body size, which you'd assume would mean that they weren't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. And this might hold true, but what's interesting is that while other small-brained hominens tended to have more primitive brain structures,

the Noletti's thinker was actually more actually alike other later humans, like Neanderthals or ourselves. With theirs having showed well-developed temporal and occipital lobes, it reduced produced post-orbital constriction and a modern-looking frontal lobe. And so this, unsurprisingly, turned a few heads and made a few wonder if we're actually dealing with a highly intelligent human, in spite of the smaller size, as the actual features themselves implied sociality, the potential for complex language, and the production of tools. But unfortunately, it's hard to say for sure if its brain anatomy resulted in these things or not, as so far no technology or artifacts have ever been linked to the Noletti, rising

Star Cave included. And this is a bit bewildering if you think about it, seeing that the cave does hold thousands of bone pieces from this species, but not a single piece of technology. And thus, we just can't say what level of intelligence they were rocking. With that said, there is some indirect evidence that they at least achieved a level equivalent to Middle Stone Age, as they were the only known human species who have lived in the High Velt region during the Middle Stone Age. And in this area, human artifacts are known of. Also, a subset of researchers do maintain the Noletti were essentially crazy geniuses, which is based on the nature of the discovery site, i.e. the cave. As I've talked about in a previous video, which you can check out,

this cave, or more specifically, the part where specimens were found, is exceptionally hard to access. I'm talking steep cliffs, vertical drops, and areas so tight that only very slender people can fit in. It can only do so while maintaining an extremely specific position. And so naturally, there's a lot of mystery and questions on how the Noletti actually ended up in this cave in the first place, given its inaccessibility. But those who hypothesized that they were buried there by their own kind suggest that the Noletti were exceptional climbers, who utilized a complex system to navigate the pitch-black caverns, which even today with modern tech has proved perilous to climbers.

Additionally, if they had really buried their dead here, and on purpose, then it would also be considered an example of burying the dead, which is regarded as a complex behavior, and it would also be the oldest example we know of in hominence, period. Thus proving that small-brained didn't necessarily mean stupid. And so with all this said and done, who exactly were the Homo Noletti? Well, if you've been following along, you should be almost more confused on the answer than you were at the start. And really, we're not sure. But as of now, there are four main ideas.

The first is that they are a group that branched off very early from contemporary humans, doing so as far back as the Pliocene, and no later than 900,000 years ago. The second hypothesis is that given their still primitive traits, is that their ancestors speciated after an interbreeding event occurring between humans and late Australopithecines, making them some sort of mixed species. And then the final two viewpoints is that the homoenoleti was either a sister taxin to the descendants of Homo Hyderpigencis, or a sister taxon of the Homo erectus, but I will mention it does share the closest affinity with, at least when it comes to the skull features. Yet overall, they still remain enigmatic, even for an extinct human species.

And we can only hope that further discoveries will help unravel this mystery. And unfortunately, this does pretty much bring us to the end of what we can definitively say about them, seeing that nothing found has given us any more inkling into what their technology, lifestyles, or behavior was like. It's all very cloudy, and perhaps the only other insight we can make on them is that life was definitely not a walk in the park for them. For starters, the diverse age and genders seen amongst the specimens in the cave show that death was quite present at all times,

and what's more is that many specimens bore pathology, which reflected living in an environment that was riddled with harsh seasons. To be exact, the teeth and dental defects associated with certain periods of development, leading researchers to reckon that extreme winters and summers often plagued the area, causing a spike in disease and illness amongst the Noletti. And winters in particular were likely extremely harsh, given how hard it would have been for individuals to stay warm given their smaller frames. And even today, the region of South African in which they lived in,

experiences increased ailments compared to surrounding areas, namely flus, respiratory diseases, and pediatric diarrhea due to environmental. environmental stressors. And to make matters worse for our tiny cousins, researchers believe that given their size, large predators like lions, hyenas, and leopards would prey on them from time to time. And really, the only good news here is that, interestingly, there is a distinct lack of large carnivore fossils around the Noletti cave. Now, no one thinks this is because the Noletti were actually vicious killers, but rather it's thought that the region was simply more desolate and rugged than adjacent environments. Thus, if they could, large predators tended to hunt

elsewhere, where game was more plentiful. And while this could be off, there is the hypothesis that the environment is what ultimately may have done the Homo Noletti Inn. Like I said, the Rising Star Cave is the only place where specimens are known of, but it's not believed that this site itself had something to do with their extinction, especially since the bodies were accumulated over a very long period of time. Instead, the presumed volatility of the region's climate possibly proved too much for the Noletti, and they were unable to successfully migrate elsewhere. And sadly, it does not seem they were able to survive for too long. as ultimately their remains show a temporal period of about 100,000 years, which is on the shorter side for human species.

But perhaps we'll come across a find that it will surprise us all, both solving this mystery, and perhaps showing us that they weren't any less impressive than any of our other cousins. Thanks for watching, and until next time, on extinction. 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 back. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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