Something Bad Happened to Neanderthals 110,000 Years Agoâand It May Have Sealed Their Fate

Neanderthals underwent a decline in genetic diversity around 110,000 years ago , study finds.

Neanderthal semicircular ear canals are an ideal proxy for studying evolutionary relationships between species in the past.

The study doesn’t specify a potential cause for this Neanderthal bottleneck, but the lower genetic diversity made them more vulnerable to ongoing stressors and less able to adapt from an evolutionary perspective.