Ancient Human Ancestors Teetered on the Brink of Extinction

Genomic data from 3,154 modern humans suggests that around 900,000 years ago, humanity's ancestors experienced a population bottleneck, reducing their numbers from approximately 100,000 to just 1,280 breeding individuals. This drastic decline of 98.7% lasted for 117,000 years and could have brought humanity to the brink of extinction. The findings help explain a gap in the human fossil record during the Pleistocene and shed light on the impact of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. The research also suggests that the bottleneck may have contributed to the fusion of two chromosomes, leading humans on a different evolutionary path.