That Time Our Ancestors Almost Went Extinct

There's a lot of humans on our planet. But our global domination was hardly a given. New evidence suggests that our ancestors were on the brink of total extinction nearly a million years ago. So let's talk about that time when the Homo erectus population dropped to as low as a thousand individuals.

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[GSBarlev]

I've watched a few SF shows and films _(Battlestar Galactica, _ _The 100, _ _Interstellar)_ where calculating the number of distinct individuals needed to repopulate the human species is a major plot point. It's *wild* to think that our numbers nearly sunk below 1, 000.

Then again, IIRC all modern cheetahs descend from a population of *eight* individuals, so I guess it could have been worse.

[jamiecantwell]

Forest sometimes can catch fire, and lighting can cause fires as well. There must have been a very smart ancestor who just never gave up on getting that fire back when it went out because they remembered how wonderfully warm it was. That obsessed individual made the first fire starting technique. We my never know who they were, but we owe them everything we know. Cheers to whoever that was.

[lovelykitty]

Thinking about how fire might have been the legitimate life line for our species during a harsh glacial period is really cool.
Imagine a sort of perpetual fire (maybe years old) that had to be kept going durring the early stages when they knew it was important but had no super reliable way to re create it.

[jmacdo]

That nail polish analogy was surprisingly helpful. Love SciShows ability to just make things so digestible and understandable

[simianfarmer]

I just gotta say that the map at 1:40 is entrancingly gorgeous in its simplicity. I paused and stared at that for several minutes. Love it!

[andrew]

They endured the coldest ice age that any human ancestor has ever endured and they did it WITHOUT fire? That is a level of badassery which one day I hope to achieve!

[greygoregoose]

Daydreaming about what could’ve been, it’s crazy how many alternate timelines could’ve come out of another hominin being the dominant species.

[Lambda_Ovine]

if it's true that event forced our ancestors to make and control fire, can you imagine being the first hominid who discovered how to do a fire whenever needed? they probably were just concerned with getting some warmth for that night without knowing they single handedly saved the entire species

[firelunamoon]

Well done to our ancestors for surviving that disaster. It's remarkable to think that we are all descended from that tiny pool of super resilient and lucky people.

[amberdent]

Survivorman (Les Stroud) has gone on record multiple times saying that cold is so much less survivable than hot. He prefers to be in the Amazon, sub-Saharan Africa, the jungles of SE Asia, etc than the northernmost parts of Alaska/Norway/Greenland because avoiding freezing to death is so freaking difficult without technology. That our ancestors needed to figure it out before fire? Insane.

[geefreck]

Kids these days. Back in my day there was only ice to eat, ground was all eroded, and we always had to carry around 24 chromosomes

[titaniadioxide]

I loved the nail polish comparison! My father pointed out that specific comparison as more relatable to women than most science communication tries to be, and I have to believe that was intentional.

So yeah, thanks to SciShow for this simple show of inclusivity!

I recently had to rewrite my company’s clean room procedures, and I made sure to represent folks that are often underrepresented in scientific fields. I made it clear that the company was responsible for providing hair ties and nail polish remover. That the company was responsible for providing plus-size and petite-size clean room gowns. I made uniforming/gowning procedures that accommodate hijabs, turbans, and beards, using clean room hoods and beard covers. I added clarifications on skirts and medical equipment, and how to handle medical ID jewelry.

SciShow, I hope that your considerations will help make it so the gender, race, and religion gaps close, and the post-hoc work I had to do will be considered default.

[CrimsonCateye]

"Got extincted by erosion" is the most scientific thing I've ever heard

[bvbxiong]

It all makes sense now. My grandfather had to walk 50 miles, uphill in the snow, to find a wife. There just wasn't any other Homo Erectus around and now I know why. Thank you SciShow!

[racheljensen]

So, our population was the size of a high school.... wow that's crazy....

[AILIT]

Just 1000 people. That had to suck. If you knew somebody that was annoying you pretty much just had to deal with it. Now we've got all much freedom to say goodbye forever and get lost in the ocean of billions.

[Chet]

Man, scishow has really upped their production value. I love the side angle jokes and the energy. Keep it up

[AbeDillon]

You know how cockroaches are expected to survive a nuclear apocalypse because of how fast they can breed? Humans decided to take a different approach. We decided to walk upright (requiring narrow hips) and grow our brains by a factor of 2-3 AT THE SAME TIME. I don't know of any other species that takes so long to produce so few offspring with such a high risk to both the offspring and the mother. On top of that: the addolescent stage of human development is crazy long!

It's kinda crazy that the big brain strategy worked at all.

[yeffwy]

I applaud SciShow for their ability to communicate their expertise and intelligence to others. That’s a really valuable skill. The nail painting metaphor is such an effective way of expressing the SNPs stuff.
Thank y’all for doing this!

[videos]

Thank you for having proper subtitles!!