There seem to be plenty of other things out there with smaller ear holes. How are they surviving? Or, are we just witness to their ultimate demise?
Wouldn’t this show up in the fossil record?
An ear infection bad enough to kill would show some erosion of the skulls ear canal, no?
Hi.
“Ear infections likely killed off the Neanderthals, “
Meadow muffins.
Exhibit A, Al Green (D-TX)
5.56mm
It`s only hearsay.
*ping*
Obviously they were never warned about the dangers of using Q-tips to clean the ears.......
They just make stuff up.
It is so difficult to differentiate between science and speculation that is being published these days.
I find it highly doubtful that susceptibility to an ear infection could/would have caused a species-wide extinction.
< /old carpenter opining on paleoepidemiology >
Maybe 23andMe should do a study to see if there is a correlation between the number of Neanderthal variants their customers have and their susceptibility to earaches.
No, no and no.
Everyone knows that such things are caused by only two things. Either Ancient Aliens or Chronic Gum Disease.
The enlightened people of the planet Golgafrincham created a ruse that the planet was doomed, and used it as a subterfuge to send the perceived useless people, "such as hairdressers and telephone sanitisers" off planet to be rid of them.
The stay behind population was subsequently wiped out by a disease spread by dirty telephones.
Maybe... Could have... We believe...
How is anthropology different from theology?
Professor Samuel Márquez of the Downstate Health Sciences University, said: ‘It may sound far-fetched, but when we, for the first time, reconstructed the Eustachian tubes of Neanderthals, we discovered that they are remarkably similar to those of human infants.
‘Middle ear infections are nearly ubiquitous among infants because the flat angle of an infant’s Eustachian tubes is prone to retain the otitis media bacteria that cause these infections – the same flat angle we found in Neanderthals.’
In modern times, the Eustachian tubes in human children start to lengthen when they are around five years old and the angle becomes more acute.
This allows the ear to drain, all but eliminating these recurring infections beyond early childhood.
But unlike modern humans, the structure of the Eustachian tubes in Neanderthals did not change with age which meant these chronic ear infections persisted.
Dr Márquez said: ‘It’s not just the threat of dying of an infection. If you are constantly ill, you would not be as fit and effective in competing with your Homo sapien cousins for food and other resources.
‘In a world of survival of the fittest, it is no wonder that modern man, not Neanderthal, prevailed.’
Dr Richard Rosenfeld added: ‘This new and previously unknown understanding of middle ear function in Neanderthal is what allows us to make new inferences regarding the impact on their health and fitness.’
Or perhaps diseases from Africa, when Homo Sapiens Sapiens expanded from Africa into Europe.