What did our prehistoric ancestors do when they had a child with a disability or genetic abnormality? Well, new research suggests they did their best to care for them.
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00:00What did our prehistoric ancestors do when they had a child with a disability or genetic
00:07abnormality?
00:08Well, Neanderthals had extremely demanding lifestyles, hunting and gathering just to
00:13survive day to day.
00:14Which is why fossils of a Neanderthal with Down syndrome turns our understanding of caveman
00:19child care upside down.
00:21Researchers were able to diagnose the condition based on a particular temporal bone nicknamed
00:25HCN-46700 that was discovered in 1989.
00:30This particular Neanderthal lived between 273,000 and 146,000 years ago.
00:36However, despite the dangers and difficulty of living back then, experts say the Neanderthal
00:40with Down syndrome lived to at least age 6.
00:43Down syndrome is the most common genetic disorder and it manifests also in our ancestors, even
00:48the great apes.
00:49What's wild is that just back in 1900, the life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome
00:54was only 9 years, meaning Neanderthals must have provided much more extensive care and
00:58likely from a larger group of carers than experts would have predicted, all without
01:02the child having given anything in return, suggesting a much earlier development of compassion
01:07within the homo genus.