The Humans Who Disappeared... But Didn't Completely

The Neanderthals survived ice ages for hundreds of thousands of years, then disappeared around forty thousand years ago, right around the time Homo sapiens arrived in their homeland. So what really happened to them? This video looks at the leading explanations one by one: climate change, competition with Homo sapiens, disease, and very small populations. Then it turns to a twist hidden in our own DNA. People with ancestry from outside Africa carry roughly one to two percent Neanderthal DNA, and studies suggest the main period of interbreeding was about fifty thousand to forty-three thousand years ago. You'll see how a small population can disappear as a distinct group while part of it survives in a much larger one. Scientists still don't agree on a single cause, and the video separates what is documented from what is still a hypothesis. Tell us in the comments which explanation you find most convincing. Subscribe for more stories about our lost human relatives, including the next video on what Neanderthal DNA is actually doing inside your body.