That Time When Humans Nearly Went Extinct

Bright Side

There was a point in history when humans came really close to extinction. Around 70,000 years ago, a supervolcano erupted in Indonesia, creating a massive climate change. This event, called the Toba catastrophe, caused temperatures to drop and resources to become scarce. It's believed that the human population dwindled to just a few thousand individuals. Despite the odds, our ancestors survived and thrived, leading to the diverse world we have today!

Transcript

00:00With more than 8 billion people in the world today, it's hard to imagine there was a time

00:06when there were so few human beings that they almost went extinct.

00:10It happened about 900,000 years ago when our ancient ancestors faced a crisis.

00:16Recent studies tell us there were only about 1,280 of them left, which is an incredibly

00:23small number.

00:23It's like just one village or a very, very small town left alone on the whole planet.

00:30The human race got into a population bottleneck, where almost 98% of people disappeared.

00:36And things were tough for them for more than 100,000 years.

00:40We don't completely understand why this happened, but it was likely the result of tremendous

00:45changes in Earth's climate.

00:49It was a time when periods of cold weather lasted longer.

00:53The sea was colder, and there were more glaciers.

00:56Monsoons were immensely powerful, and yet there was less rain.

01:00These changes had an impact on wildlife species in Africa and Eurasia, and many plants and

01:06animals that were food sources for people disappeared.

01:09But at some point, our ancestors showed their strength and managed to bounce back despite

01:14tough times.

01:16The numbers started to go up again, because people learned how to handle fire better.

01:20Plus, temperatures got warmer too.

01:23But what would the world look like if nature had defeated us, and it all had really stopped

01:28for humanity back then?

01:30Let's take a trip to some parallel dimension where it really happened.

01:34In that universe, there wouldn't be empires, pyramids, and impressive achievements that some

01:39old civilizations left us.

01:41No neighborhoods, cities, your favorite park, or that bench where you like to sit and drink

01:48your coffee.

01:49No coffee?

01:50Ouch, that hurts.

01:52No pools, adventure parks, and no rush at the beaches.

01:56No creature would be able to go to another continent separated by the ocean.

02:00There would be no ships or planes that could carry it.

02:03Animals would have to wait for tectonic plates to move again to visit new territories.

02:08Wow, you've just realized how incredibly silent the world is.

02:13All because nature almost never produces as much noise as humans do.

02:17Our buildings are noisy, together with cars, motorcycles, and all other vehicles.

02:23If you live somewhere by the airport, you know how much noises planes can make too.

02:28And here, no one's phone's ringing.

02:30You don't hear music coming from bars or gyms.

02:33Wow, look how incredibly blue the sky is.

02:37You've never seen a sky like that in your world.

02:41The rain and wind scrub the surface of our planet clean, although there's not much work

02:47to be done since there's no dust and smog humans produce.

02:50I mean, there is dust, but a different kind, one that nature creates.

02:55We don't really notice it since we have so many heaters and air conditioning systems that

02:59blow air and all that dust around.

03:01The only drinking water you see is in lakes and rivers, and lots of different animals

03:06get together in these areas.

03:08It takes a while to get used to it.

03:10Wherever you go, there are wild animals passing by.

03:14There are no dogs, cats, or other pets you're used to.

03:17There's no electricity, either.

03:19In case you've brought your phone, take pictures as fast as possible, because you won't be able

03:24to charge your gadget when it runs out of battery.

03:26There's no internet, though, so you'll be the only one who will see the photos.

03:31It's so weird to see grass so tall and wild.

03:35No one mows it, so it's hard to walk, especially considering there are no roads.

03:39And you don't have a scythe or any other tool that could help you clear your way, because

03:44human civilization hasn't reached that level of progress.

03:48Wow, there are plants you've never seen before.

03:53Every time a tree drops a seed, something new might grow.

03:57And there are no humans to select which plants they like and which they don't.

04:02You suddenly feel nostalgic, thinking of carrots, broccoli, potatoes, and all other vegetables

04:08people once started growing on their farms.

04:10You can hear tons of bugs buzzing around.

04:14We usually do everything to get rid of them.

04:16And now, without humans, you get to see how annoying they really are.

04:22Hey, the sun is going down.

04:24Without electric lights, all creatures just follow the rhythm of nature.

04:28So if you're up for a late-night walk, wait for the moon and stars to lighten your path.

04:33But be aware of night predators.

04:35You may face creatures that didn't survive in the world where humans rule.

04:41Fire.

04:42Luckily, there's a river nearby, so you jump into the water to get to the other side.

04:47Fires happen more frequently in the world without humans.

04:50For instance, lightning can strike a tree or set a brush on fire.

04:54No one is there to put the flames out.

04:56So fires just keep spreading until at some point they burn themselves out.

05:00It's hard to see the world like this.

05:03But it's even harder to accept that Earth is fine without us.

05:07Just like it's doing well without dinosaurs, megalodons, woolly mammoths, dodos, and other

05:13ancient creatures that went extinct.

05:15Back to the research.

05:17Some scientists don't think our ancient ancestors were really that close to extinction.

05:21To get these results, researchers used FITCOL, a special tool that helps study changes in ancient

05:28human populations by looking at the genetic information of modern people.

05:32They examined DNA from over 3,000 individuals in Africa and other places for this study.

05:40Some believe that the actual population numbers might have been bigger.

05:44The method used focuses on a small group of breeding individuals and may not exactly represent

05:50the whole population.

05:52There may be many archaeological sites in Euroasia and Africa that date back to the time when

05:58this population decline might have happened.

06:00So it may have affected just some groups of people in certain areas.

06:05Either way, not only wasn't it the end, but it was a new beginning.

06:10Two ancestral chromosomes combined to create a structure known as

06:14chromosome 2 in modern humans.

06:16This might have been the start of a new species, because there was a split between our ancestors

06:22and other ancient humans, such as Neanderthals and Denosovans, our ancient cousins.

06:27Some evidence tells us this idea is plausible, because our common ancestor lived about 500,000

06:33to 700,000 years ago.

06:37Well, humans did survive all those devastating moments in history.

06:41But scientists believe that the extinction of our species is a matter of when, not if.

06:47Our fields will overgrow, cities will end up in ruins, and bridges will fail.

06:53Nature quickly reclaims the landscape where humans don't go.

06:57Check out how these roots and trees have taken over the temple in Cambodia.

07:01Roman ruins still defy time for over 1,500 years now.

07:06Some of the buildings and things we create in the modern world will do it too.

07:09Nature will break everything down at some point.

07:13And if humans were to go extinct, who would replace us?

07:17It took 200 million years for our kind to evolve from the first mammals.

07:21Who can repeat this entire process again?

07:24The last common ancestor of chimps and humans lived 8 million years ago.

07:29Knowing this, it seems possible that if Homo sapiens went extinct,

07:33a new species capable of using technologies would evolve from chimps.

07:37But hold on.

07:41There's something called the Fermi Paradox.

07:44Even though there are hundreds of millions of rocky planets that could host life in our galaxy,

07:49we don't see any evidence of its existence.

07:52Our galaxy is 13.5 billion years old.

07:56So you can't say life hasn't had time to develop.

07:59One possible explanation is that certain crucial steps in the evolution of intelligent life

08:04are so rare they hardly ever happen.

08:07So, Earth would get along fine without us.

08:11The only ones who would care are us.

08:14And right now, we need to care a lot.

08:16Earth would be fine.

08:17Earth is easily remained in the shape of the universe.

08:17può human being may not be exposed to animals.

08:19And right now, we have an environmental change to Aristotle.

08:20So strong is not

08:36that great as our friends will grow upon their time and others.

08:39So it could be believed that soon as we went 뒷 있으 wounds.

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