if there would be bigger population, and bigger urbanisation - imo generally ppl who are smaller would have more comfortable lifes and less costs of sustainig their life, clothes, etc. if there would be collapse of the civilisation and back to barbarian chaos - higher ppl will be better in fights again, and in phisical work, so maybe higher genes would prevail?
It entirely depends on the selecting pressures. For all its advantages, taller height has several distinct disadvantages such as higher heat retention(advantage in cold, and dependent on total mass, not height alone), increased need for food(again, codependent on mass), and the fun one, taller people have more surface area, making them more vulnerable to shrapnel and random gunfire.
I think that carbon nano-fibers are going to change a lot of things about how we regard our physical body and its capacities. I don't think anyone right now knows where that technology is going to take us, evolutionarily.
@@extremosaur Most people I met in the SF community, tended to be above average height. The intense training of Marines, SEALS, SOF, Rangers and PJs, may be why. Although the mortality rate for them is 50% before age 30. Nearly all of them are suffering chronic pain, after age 40. Those I have seen in their 60s and 70s, are tall. They are usually cranky, and best left to themselves.
I think environment pressures will dictate how tal, on average, we will get. Especially those of us who still require natural means to survive and prosper.
I'm gonna guess that it's probable that genetic "determination" of height doesn't go like "you're going to be X height" but rather "you're gonna be A to B height, depending on your early nutrition and maybe also other stresses", i.e. that is more nuanced and flexible than a simple "genetic determination" would be. That's why some populations shift height easily with improved (or downgraded) nutrition, while others barely react to that.
My brother-in-law is a prime example. His parents are both Vietnamese, but he was born and raised in Canada. His parents are both under 5’3”, and the majority of his extremely large extended family back in Vietnam are also very short, but he’s 6’. Of course, anecdotal evidence isn’t the most useful, but it does clearly indicate that there are factors aside from genetics that influence height.
It was definitely a shock to me when I visited Guatemala, I am 5'4, average for women in America, but I towered over almost everyone there. My sister was adopted from Guatemala as an infant, and I wonder if she may have had slight height variation if she had not grown up in America.
@@ggf_andyfox1946 She is just under 5 foot, i think around 4'10. She had a malnourished infancy as an orphan, I wonder how much it effected her as well.
hispanics are also just shorter (genetically), people who live in spain are a inch shorter than in the US due to genetics. guatemalans are likely short in part due to that
This is a good one. Being a male and only 5ft 1inch tall, i've always just rounded down to 5 ft it's not like that inch is going to make a difference. Although being small can cause issues it has never been the case with me, i've always been super strong, by 9th grade and 130lbs i had a benchpress in the low 300's and a deadlift in the mid 500's, i've never been bullied or anything like that, it's been all good. I think i could use a couple more inches for certain things but i find that being small in our world makes life more comfortable for me than say being 6'6" would be. I just fit into anything, besides adult clothes..lol
Being short can be an advantage. My oldest son was always the shortest kid in the class, and he was on wrestling teams from 7 years old on up. He had a whole strategy taking advantage of being shorter, and his opponents fell like bowling pins.
@@bureaffari3694generally women prefer fit athletic men too? Then why are most skinny fat slobs? Also gnerally women prefer rich men, then why are most men poor
I’m surprised that you didn’t talk more about how one’s physical environment affects height. The elevation, flora, and climate all have big effects on the height of a group of people. You’ll notice that the tallest members of a groups of people tend to be from flatter, open areas- while shorter people tend to be from mountainous and densely forested areas. This is true of many groups of people all over the world! Edit: Just to be more clear- I’m saying that over time humans evolve and adapt to their environments, and certain environmental factors seem to be correlated to height. Whether it causes them to become taller or shorter
@@petervermeer.4904 I think the “sturdiness” might have to do with their adaptation to the cold, as mountains are always colder then the surrounding low lands
Environment or nutrition do not affect significant height differences. Someone whose highest potential is 180 cm cannot be 160 cm even with bad nutrition or cannot be 200+ cm even with best nutrition. He will be always around 180 cm +/- 1 or 2 inches. Nutrition or environment can only affect upto 2-2.5 inches. Highest with medical support it could go upto 3 inches. It never could be more significant. Therefore, gene is the most important factor in determining height.
When I visited the Netherlands, I felt so tiny! I'm 5'7" which is above average in the US but in the Netheralnds, I had 11-year-olds looking down at me.
The dutch were also tall during hunter gathering days (5'8 for men) but then shrunk during farming with less protein diets. Then grew again with modernisation ua-cam.com/video/FFUwJMcMlyg/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
Well it can appear that way, being dwarfed. It is average height, meaning half the young adult population is less than the mean, 68% of the population is one standard deviation plus and minus from the mean. So there would be plenty of Nederlanders who are not tall, as not every young adult male will be 6'1" tall.
Woke up right on time, todays gonna be a great day, thank God. And thank you North, you're one of the best youtubers in my book. Love seeing your videos, this is by far one of the most pronounced series I've commited my time to online since I discovered UA-cam. It's even been a very inspiring force for my own writing project. Your videos and uniquely detailed topics are important and personally very moving. Keep up the passionate work, North!
A lot of these old drawings are straight from a children's book on evolution from the early 90s that I read.I still have it to this day to educate my nephews. While much of its info was outdated, the pictures aged very well.
I remember those pictures as I was interested in human evolution as a child. Yes, some ideas about human evolution have changed quite a bit particularly about Neanderthals, and the various assumptions made from fossils of skulls.
The second most influential factor on height today is quality protein consumption during childhood and adolescence so that lines up with hunter gatherers being taller and generally more robust. Then when we switched to grain based diets we got significantly shorter. Also dental health took a nose dive. It’s interesting how biological anthropologists can just casually say humans function better on a meat based diet and it doesn’t spark a huge vegetarian/vegan vs omnivore/carnivore debate lol. It seems pretty clear which one we thrive on.
Nevertheless we did make adaptations to a more carb-based diet. Eating grain food is perfectly fine and they're a part of a balanced and healthy diet. Going to the extremes on both sides can be harmful
@@Me-yq1fl BMI isnit bullcrap for the vast majority of the population. It gives a 40lb+/- range for a healthy weight. Don't tell me you have fallen for the haes bs. Those vegan/vegetarian studies haven't been accepted by the scientific community as they are flawed from the start. They didn't account for lifestyles or obese/overweight people or separate vegan/vegetarian people.
@@Me-yq1fl this guy said BMI is bullshit yet talking about diets and nutrition. Youre probably think youre intellectual or smart yet are probabky fat and dont lift. Indicating your true stupidity and tuat only you can hide from yourself. But that extra body fat shows your low IQ.
@@Me-yq1fl Living til 90 wasn't practical for people who had to hunt mega fauna to survive. They just needed to be at peak performance until they could reproduce and teach their offspring to hunt.
Thank you so so so sooooo very much for everything you do on this channel. This is one of my all time favorite UA-cam channels. Prehistoric history is one of the most interesting things ever to me.
You can see the difference in my family. My father was 5'11", I'm 6'1", my son is 6'2" and my grandson is 6'4". About a five inch height gain, in as many generations. Since the average modern human, matures at around 25 years old. My son and I may be a bit stunted. I enlisted in the Marines at 17, and he enlisted at 18. We may have lost out on about an inch of growth, due to the physical stress.
@@bureaffari3694so it’s possibly I can grow up to seven feet still? I’m sixteen and I am 5’9 and a half and I am pretty tall for my age (67th percentile) but I remember a long time ago in a video call with my doctor (before 2020 lol 😅) he said that based on my X rays I could potentially grow up to seven feet. I do have scoliosis albeit mild one so I don’t know…
@@AlekseyMaksimovichPeshkovBuddy growing to 7 feet is no fun I am 6.2 I haven't noticed any benefits of height my head bums in doorways of things that's the only benefit.
Yes, there is a thing called the regression to the mean. What that means is that height cannot keep increasing generation after generation, there is a limit to that.
The thing with height is, it's very variable generation to generation. Yes there's a good genetic component as you pointed out, with various haplogroups having solid predisposition to being towards or above 6 foot, but the larger part(as my limited understanding of the science goes) comes from protein consumption during your growth phase(before plate closure due to hormonal signaling) Milk might be a double edged sword there, as milk can increase estrogen a slight amount, and the hormonal signal for plate closure is an estrogen pulse, at least in men. Which means other proteins sources like eggs and meat might be even better for trying to optimize height in your kids. It's a fascinating topic, and I'm really grateful you went into such detail, in such a candid manner. You really do produce fantastic educational content, so keep it up, for our sake.
In Stuttgart I felt like a manlet at 174cm/5'8" but in Strasbourg I felt like I towered over the crowd. I think I've grown about 1cm since then, but it still astounds me how entire regions or areas, even diverse ones, seem to have a more or less average height when you go out in public.
In South Sudan the average height of the Dinka man is 6’3 with many who are over 7 foot in their home country with everything working against them. Here in the Twin cities in Minnesota we have a lot of East Africans many who where refugees and had kids here and I have met a few who where extremely tall like 6’8 +
It’s widely considered that Nilotic groups such as Dinka are tallest genetically in the world. Although in modern day they may struggle, historically they were a pastoral people who consumed a lot of meat and dairy. Compared to shit diets in Europe they probably lived very healthy lives
I have never been to South Sudan, but there are South Sudanese in my town in Australia, and yes, quite a number are tall. However many are much the same as tall people of other ethnic groups.
This might seem an off-road request, but I would love a vid about deep sea creatures. The super-interesting ones in the hadal zone. It's hopeful, fun and fascinating to see life under a sort-of-new-rulebook (or is it the oldest?). But as expected - a top notch vid. What if netflix gave you a ton of cash, and boom an excellent human evolution doc. Could be my christmas gift?
You sound so grown up, North. I don’t think it’s just the mic! You’re so talented. Best videos. You tell the visual story as well, which I really love.
Any source to suggest that Upper Paleolithic humans were that tall? I have seen averages of 173 cm, which is already significative and only matched recently by modern humans. Cromagnon 1 (at 4:31 we can see his reconstruction on the left?) was estimated to have been around that height too. Not sure about anything close to 180 cm. Regarding the skeleton gracilization, that change can be observed already on the Upper Paleolithic (Brno, Predmost, etc...), although it s a process that may not be directly linked to a height change. Stable hunter-gatherer settlements probably led to a more sedentary lifestyle. First known Mediterranean skulls appeared on the Brno region, before the last big Ice Age (around 25.000 years ago). They evolved from Cromagnoid and Aurignacoid types. This area had mammoth hunters. Some Mesolithic European hunters also were way more sedentary than Ice Age hunters, included more vegetables and aquatic animals on their diet and were of shorter stature (estimated to be around 165 cm for males in Muge, for example). The tallest average estimate that I have seen was for the Taforalt hunters (although they were from Morocco) and it was between 176-179 cm. But yes, it seems established, that the Neolithic led to even a more marked decrease in height. it is difficult to link safely a single Y-DNA haplogroup to a tendency to get taller :Y-DNA itself represents only a very small fraction of all the human DNA, moreover, when it is from thousands of years ago (and it seems to be not that common in the Netherlands?)... It is still a possiblity, but Upper Paleolithic haplogroups/haplotypes exist everywhere in Europe, and some are older than that one.
@@JesusFriedChrist I never could figure out why they named a place in Canada after an animal that doesn't exist in the new world (at least not until people brought them here).
There’s so little info around on the red deer cave people I was starting to wonder if the find had been discredited. Do you know any good content on this?
Our genus has certainly gone through some very interesting changes. I wonder what environmental pressures each one went through. Thank you for the video.
Im American and 6’8” tall, my father was from northern Germany and he was 6’7”. His father was 6’6” and his mother was 6’. And with her it began. So I can see how the last 100yrs has improved height. I grew up on a farm and drank raw milk as a little kid, ate game, home grown vegetables a lot growing up but also a lot of American junk food.
I’m 18 and 171cm tall. This is effectively dwarfism for a male in my family, as there are only two women on either side of my family that aren’t taller than me (i.e my grandmother is 175cm tall and she was born in 1946). I don’t know what went wrong, but literally all of my male relatives are heads and shoulder taller than me.
Have you asked your Mom, how many times she dropped you, on your head. ;-) Thats what I always tell my little brother, as everyone, including my sisters, are taller then him.
Do you look like your dad or... like... a mailman? Maybe? Sorry lol. Sometimes genes just fuck you over. My daughter has curled hair, only one of her granddads has curls. Literally noone else in the entire family tree. You might have had poor eating habits, you might gave a hormonal disbalance, maybe your pregnancy was weak or you were a fuzzy baby - the first years count a lot.
@@princesseville6889 I’ve been doing MMA since I was 5 years old with genetically high muscle mass (even prior to adolescent years). I ate very healthy from a young age. In all likelihood, I should have been at least 190cm tall, and 195cm if I was following the upward trend in height that’s supposed to be occurring.
I was just watching another video you did on predators preying on humans, and I wonder if the height thing has to do with a defense against predation. I know it helps somewhat. I have a friend who used to lead outdoor education classes here in Tennessee, and he swears black bears are not as problematic as people make them out to be, because he's met up with them repeatedly, and they are never a problem. To be clear, the average size of a black bear is about 6 1/2 feet, and my friend is seven ft tall, solid bone and muscle and looks like a blond bear. Everyone backs away from him, and I'm told black bears even bob their head in apology and back away from him. I notice that many of the countries with very tall people also have animals like this to deal with. Even sharks leave you alone while swimming, if you are longer than they are, and if you dolphin kick when you see them.
Humans are fragile af for hominids and especially compared to other animals. Your 7 foot friend would get absolutely mauled by a starving black bear if he was barehanded. Our strength comes from our intelligence and our intelligent adaptations that allow us to seem bigger than we really are. In terms of actual practicality and combat use height advantages would be negligible, humans always fight with some type of weapon whether that be a spear in the past or a gun nowadays. I don’t think being tall would help you throw/wield a spear better than any other sized person. Most likely not in hunting and if we’re talking solely about predation like in your example the slight strength difference from being a lil taller wouldn’t be enough compared to a compact and powerful predator like a bear. When you’re being hunted by a predator though the goal isn’t to fight them the goal is to intimidate and scare them away like your friend did and that’s the true benefit of being tall. Just like a bear standing on its hind legs you look bigger and more intimidating and gives the impression that you’re more dangerous than u really are.
@@Kunumbah1 That's actually what I meant. Probably everybody knew that. All animals can take us out. We're prey. We stay alive because we're smarter. It's the psychology of the height I'm saying, not the actual fact.
@@tribequest9 Ha ha. Just saying, however genetics forms in the mix, nothing happens at all unless the lady wants the man. The average woman who lives daily with the threat of predators, who sees a seven foot tall guy stand up and shoo a dangerous bear away, and decide that's the guy for her. If she mates with THAT guy, her kids will live. If she mates with the shorter guy, her kids might die. Sure enough, the ladies all mate with the tall guys. Easy math.
@@Kunumbah1 Humans aren't fragile. We are one of the best endurance runners in the animal kingdom and we have one of the best visions of all mammals, not to mention how hyper-social we are as a species. Physical strength may not be our strong side but intelligence definitely isn't our only evolutionary advantage.
Very interesting video, i think the problem with figuring out why different groups evolved height is complicated because a lot of these imo are caused by sexual selection, a lot of time this is turns out being very un intuitive and illogical, this preference might be cultural but can also be genetic, a genetic preference for tall males. Whether is cultural or genetic i think it is also possible for a society to have a preference for one sex being taller and the other shorter so maybe it evens itself out. For example maybe in the states height is valued in males but they want shorter women or more precisely they dislike tall women. The netherlands could be the same but they don't like or don't dislike tall women so only the females are choosing tall mates so it ends up going in that direction. Pygmies on the other hand are tough but it looks like it's more of an environmental cause a mix between poor nutrition and an evolved efficient use of it, hence the small stature. Anyways my point is sexual selection is a pain to discern because tastes are very subjective and psychological, a lot of times has no evolutionary advantage besides being a clear way to rate a sexual partner. There are a ton of animals that have big or small body parts many times to their detriment because of this, think babirusa, narwhal, Proboscis monkey, etc or simply common animals like peacocks and deer.
The Netherlands essentially sat out the two world wars. In most countries, there is, and has long been, minimum height requirements for military service. This, logically, means that young men of average to above-average heights are more likely to be killed during wars, reducing the average height gene pool of the relevant nation. This might have been particularly true of France after WWI. Like France, Britain and Germany also have a long history of welfare states, as does the Netherlands. I know that this “tall-Dutchman -because-socialism” hypothesis is popular with the political left.
It's interesting how my parents who were kids in times of poverty during WWII in Italy and my brothers and I have an approximate 10cm height difference. That's a really big jump in one generation. I know it's putting things simplistically, but it is an interesting topic (not my family's height 😄 Height in general!)
To me, there are SO many factors more important to survival & capabilities , than height. Generally, you’ll find that the people who care the most about height are either very tall or very short.
It’s not purely “environmental” in the individual sense. Multiple sequential generations of “no famine” can result in inherited epigenetic changes favouring larger body size. Also - since the invention of the train and bicycle - there has been greater “outbreeding” within all human populations, starting in Europe and America. Prior to these inventions most people mated within a relatively closed local population. Expanding mate selection to the regional level can result in much less inbreeding. The reduced inbreeding since the late 19th century has potentially improved many indicators, of which height is just one.
My brother and I (born in the 90's and raised in the USA) are both 5'9 even though my parents (born in the 60's and raised in Mexio) are 5'0 and 5'4 respectively. Nutrition during childhood and adolescence really goes a long way!
As a Dutchy I believe that the diet made us kinda tall and woman don't date men that are shorter then their selfs over here so we keep getting taller. Kids are getting huge over here
I hate being American and have to really think about the metric system when I hear measurements. I think it’s time to make the switch to metric. Are we just going to be the only major country that doesn’t use it forever? If not, why not just make the change now? If so, why?
I am an American too, I just learned metric system heights from making this video. It’s not as hard as I thought. I still barely know kilograms though.
I thought you were American (or maybe Canadian) from your accent. Then when you said everything in centimeters I figured you weren’t American. Then at the end you said you were American.
@@NORTH02 Oh nice. You’ll learn metric then. I know centimeters in small amount but in bigger numbers I’m not as sure. I would love to live in Europe for a few years but I’m getting too settled here and there’s a lot keeping me here now.
Being tall is not necesserily healthy. In fact, most blue zones in the world are where people are very short. For instance Okinawa, Sardinia, etc. Never saw a 2 meters tall centenarian. That being said, being short due to monoculture and malnutrition is terrible for the health. But reaching maximum stature due to rich diets does not necesseraly translate into longer lifespan.
This. Outside of malnutrition related stunting most of height variation is genetic. I feel like this video could have been better if it focused more n that and how genetic changes overtime (not just sexual selection but migrations and conquests) impacted populations.
@@DM-ql6ps yeah, too simplistic. Being a big animal has its advantages and weeknesses and animals are capable of changing size in just a few generations. Plus the biggest mammals are vegetarians. Big flaws in overstating diet. Nowadays probably other factors like vaccines and modern medication protect children from being constantly sick and therefore their body could focus on growth. It's certainly multifactorial like most things in biology.
@@impressions9558 Childhood infections can have a fairly big impact on height - periods of illness even from small things like measles interrupt growth. It's also now possible for larger infants (and smaller infants) to survive - historically babies that were unusually large often did not survive birth.
@@DM-ql6ps Living in ever bigger comunities in narrower spaces and extremely poor sanitation and no modern sewage permited the profileration of pandemics, infections, etc. Probably this had a detrimental effect on growth. This has not even been mentioned.
The average height of Americans may be decreasing due to immigration from other countries, most our population came from northern Europe, now we see immigration from every populated continent.
Have you ever worked the land? Clearing tilling planting and harvesting. A lot more energy goes into farming then than ambush hunting. Nutrition and disease were the primary factors.
Especially for the nutrition you get out of it. Subsistence grain farming is hardly a living, it really makes you wonder how in the hell these people made it that long.
I love the graph showing how the height decreased with agriculture and increase again to what it was in the Palaeolithic once meat was again in our diet in high quantities, if a vegan sees this he would loose his mind.
Great material, as always. The bit about the Pigmy Peoples got me curious about whether they have any medical/physiological differences compared to a "typical" Human. I'll look into it. Cheers.
Height seems to correlate decently to different Y and Mt DNA halpgroups as you allude to. The story is pretty complex, more complex than you go into here, and really interesting. For example, your reference to pygmies and the dinka tribe is also an observation of the difference between Y-DNA haplogroup B (pygmies), and Y-DNA halpogroup A (the dinka tribe), which would have been one of the oldest "splits" in anatomically modern humans heights happening somewhere around 130k BCE. It's likely that humans with haplogroup A were likely relatively tall and existed in a relatively homogenous group for about 135k years, until they split with BT who was much shorter. CT branches off from B somewhere around 100k-88k years ago, and then starts getting taller (and interbreeds with Neanderthals at this point), and then goes to split on to the rest of the Y-DNA haplogroups, all of which than go on to evolve various average height levels depending on the specific group. Effectively, modern humans start relatively tall, break off into tall vs shorts, some of the shorts bounce and have sex with some randoms, then go on to spread around the world and then some of them get tall again while others stay short.
I'm considered very tall for my ethnicity (Black Jamaican) and nationality (American) at a height of 6'3/191 cm. My younger brother at the age of 14 is already 5'10 or 177cm, while our parents are average height and below average height. I'm not exactly sure where I got my height from.
Prolly from ur great great grandparents, me myself almost 6'2 barefoot (187cm) my lil bro 14 176cm, as Asians we're well above average, meanwhile my dad only 5'8 n my mom 5'3, all males from my dad family side except my dad is over 5'9. It's prolly from grandparents genes.
The American height average is decreasing because of the Latino/ Hispanic population increase. The average European descended/ white American isn’t getting any shorter.
@@joemontes4658 It’s not racist. Look up the average heights of central and South America and compare them to Europe. Kindly explain why the white population would be any shorter than their native European counterparts.
@@kiuk_kiks you gotta understand too we live in different regions now. Look at people in I believe Nigeria or somewhere around there people have stronger lungs than us because of their region. Americans have bad health issues also. When you’re fat it messes up your height as well. This why the whites should’ve stayed in Europe if they’re worried about the size
@@joemontes4658 I’m telling you that Americans of European ancestry are just as tall as their European counterparts. It’s the growing Hispanic (central and South American) people who are reducing the average height of Americans.
I'm a 5'6 British male 175 pounds. To be honest i actually really love my height since i wrestle with my friend group for fun and I'm the shortest. And let me tell you, although your reach may be short, once i grab an arm or get your waist...you going down to 0 feet real fast Plus its hilarious to see the overconfidence of a new 6+ foot opponent looking down on you calling you a "short ass" just for them to arch their back in a headlock and giving them the most intense nuggy they've ever experienced.
I was hoping for a bit of analysis on the height of people during Roman and middle age times, but great video! Also would have loved a graph of height throughout the ages, but great work overall
In the eighties, Norwegian military published a study regarding the average height increase in conscripts over the last 100 years. There was a steady linear graph of increase. The interesting part was, if you followed the same growth linear graph in reverse back in time, the vikings would have been 60cm (23.6 inches) tall😂
Sure, but that's only if it keeps going linear. I was just in Ireland, and guides pointed out several times how beds, door frames, etc. were taller for nobles in the 1100s than in the 1600s, bc people had actually gotten shorter due to to bigger populations and poorer nutrition. So average Irish height today is taller than in Victorian era, but the same as "Pagan" era, almost like they got back to the 'normal" height. Surprising.
Interesting trade offs between hunter-gatherer and agricultural lifestyles. Although nutrition was for a long time poorer in the latter, I think it did provide the surpluses and leisure (not a bunch, but a hey a little) to allow the beginnings of culture to develop.
Insular drawfism is very real. The deer on the mainland where I live are about as tall as I am, (five feet, ten inches) factoring the antler height of a dominant male. Less for females. On an island within the extreme range a human can swim, a large male maybe reaches my waist, lower rib cage at maximum. Given the local history, this doesn't take very long in evolutionary terms. Size is always a common variable within a species and the right sized critter is more successful at mating and established a more specialized population of offspring. In this case a smaller body means a small energy requirement and that is a direct result of less nutritious food found on the island. On the mainland they have all sorts of lawns and gardens to browse. More nutrition to support a bigger body
Yes. North02.... didn't get the notification....glad I came to look. I'm 6'4" and I'm almost exclusively descended the British Isle people. With a 3rd great grandmother who was German. I'm also 210#'s, red headed, green eyed, left handed, and athletic. Must be some Viking DNA....
Being a 6'3 200 pound male I can tell you being tall has profound advantages in the way people see and treat you. Especially women. Anyone who says different is most likely short and just trying to sooth their ego. (I'm so sorry if your short) 😀
One thing that I feel like every dude understands is like physical hierarchy in your friend group especially as kids or teenagers. Everyone has the one friends who can beat everyone up or knows where they are on the pecking order. I suspect this has an affect on how you interact socially with not only your friends but other people aswell.
Great video !!! I am 6'6 240 lb, third generation American, my ancestry is frisain an ethnic minority in the Netherlands, archeology has shown that Dairy farming on the terp Mounds has been going on for the last 2,000 years milking barns similar to how we construct them to this day... I am extremely lactose tolerant at 58 years old can't live without consuming some type of milk product daily mainly by the glass.. 🐄=🏋️
I’m 6’1 185, I got a leaner Scandinavian like build that is common in the Midwest from Norwegian and German heritage. My grandpa and earlier generations were cow farmers so I may have them to thank. I also cannot go 12 hours without milk. I have at least 4 glasses a day.
@@NORTH02 There might be something to that. My family has been ranchers, on the Colombia Plateau, since 1827. Along with about a gazillion beeves, they all kept five milk cows. I have no idea how much meat and milk, I consumed growing up but, we're all tall. Except my little brother, who is a midget, at only 5'11".
Recently much more accurate biometric analysis puts Cro Magnon and Neanderthal at over six feet tall. European hominids were BOTH taller AND more robust, thicker and larger by about 50 percent, than African hominids.
I'm dutch. People in my country are indeed insanely tall. I'm 1.83 (over 6ft) and I'm considered short here..... The average overall length here is 1.84cm and in the North it's even 187cm on average.....
Well, that could all change very quickly considering how common conflicts are, and how dependent all societies are on a steady food supply, and good agricultural conditions.
I remember in 9th grade PhyEd class, boys lined up by height, and I ended up in the top 20%, but another year later and I was barely average probably. I'm 5'9" tall ,and same as my dad's dad, while my dad was shorter. I thought being 6 feet tall would be nice, but glad I stopped at 5'9", tall enough and I think there's more health issues from being taller. PLUS if I was much taller, my feet would hang over the end of my bed! I dated women mostly 5'2"-5'4", but one was 5'7", but strangely her arms were longer so she could reach higher than me!
Well if you want tall sons than marry a 5’6 or 5’7 woman that always works. I’m sixteen and I’m 5’9 and a half and I’m pretty tall for my age: 67th percentile
I’m from a Dutch town and the average height is easily above 6’. I’m short for where I’m from but elsewhere I’m usually one of the taller people present
1:54 this shows exactly why hominids were fucking terrifying. I don't mean physically imposing -- a lion will always be more -- but imagine how terror inducing it must have felt being cornered by a troop of bizarre bipedal maniacs hollering and going literally apeshit.
I have read that by the second or third generation, immigrants to the Netherlands are basically as tall as the natives. When I look around me I am not sure if it exactly like that, but younger people who speak the language fluently (i.e. grew up here to parents who may not have) do tend to be around my height. This is the case for indos, for Turkish people, for Caribbeans and others.
My ancestors on the male line that I know of, were all above the average height, although they were peasant farmers. I am 1,92 meters tall and my son is 1,98 meters tall, and we belong to haplogroup *G2a* which was also the majority haplogroup of the first *Neolithic farmers.* I think we are clearly above the average of those of haplogroup I2. So, the study should be slightly revised. ;) 9:30
I was literally 184cm tall by age 14 but did not grow since then. Used to be the largest boy in my class all through primary school, by 10th grade my height was about average. I live close to the Dutch border in Germany.
Yeah but don’t most kids inherit most of their physical traits from the mother, at least the eldest? Because that certainly was the case for me and I’m the oldest
How do you think human height will change in the next centuries or even millennium?
if there would be bigger population, and bigger urbanisation - imo generally ppl who are smaller would have more comfortable lifes and less costs of sustainig their life, clothes, etc.
if there would be collapse of the civilisation and back to barbarian chaos - higher ppl will be better in fights again, and in phisical work, so maybe higher genes would prevail?
It entirely depends on the selecting pressures. For all its advantages, taller height has several distinct disadvantages such as higher heat retention(advantage in cold, and dependent on total mass, not height alone), increased need for food(again, codependent on mass), and the fun one, taller people have more surface area, making them more vulnerable to shrapnel and random gunfire.
I think that carbon nano-fibers are going to change a lot of things about how we regard our physical body and its capacities. I don't think anyone right now knows where that technology is going to take us, evolutionarily.
@@extremosaur Most people I met in the SF community, tended to be above average height. The intense training of Marines, SEALS, SOF, Rangers and PJs, may be why. Although the mortality rate for them is 50% before age 30. Nearly all of them are suffering chronic pain, after age 40. Those I have seen in their 60s and 70s, are tall. They are usually cranky, and best left to themselves.
I think environment pressures will dictate how tal, on average, we will get. Especially those of us who still require natural means to survive and prosper.
I'm gonna guess that it's probable that genetic "determination" of height doesn't go like "you're going to be X height" but rather "you're gonna be A to B height, depending on your early nutrition and maybe also other stresses", i.e. that is more nuanced and flexible than a simple "genetic determination" would be. That's why some populations shift height easily with improved (or downgraded) nutrition, while others barely react to that.
Well he did mention multiple times that height is primarily genetic, but also heavily influenced by surrounding factors.
@@utzius8003 - I'm not arguing with what the video says, I'm expanding on it according to my best judgment. Please re-read.
@@LuisAldamiz You're just summarizing what the video said.
@@utzius8003 - The details are different, re-read pls.
My brother-in-law is a prime example. His parents are both Vietnamese, but he was born and raised in Canada. His parents are both under 5’3”, and the majority of his extremely large extended family back in Vietnam are also very short, but he’s 6’. Of course, anecdotal evidence isn’t the most useful, but it does clearly indicate that there are factors aside from genetics that influence height.
It was definitely a shock to me when I visited Guatemala, I am 5'4, average for women in America, but I towered over almost everyone there. My sister was adopted from Guatemala as an infant, and I wonder if she may have had slight height variation if she had not grown up in America.
How tall is she?
@@ggf_andyfox1946 She is just under 5 foot, i think around 4'10. She had a malnourished infancy as an orphan, I wonder how much it effected her as well.
In short, yes :)
hispanics are also just shorter (genetically), people who live in spain are a inch shorter than in the US due to genetics. guatemalans are likely short in part due to that
Now I’m curious to visit at 6’1 lol
I always find your vids fun to watch, as they cover a time that very different of most time periods in human history
This is a good one. Being a male and only 5ft 1inch tall, i've always just rounded down to 5 ft it's not like that inch is going to make a difference. Although being small can cause issues it has never been the case with me, i've always been super strong, by 9th grade and 130lbs i had a benchpress in the low 300's and a deadlift in the mid 500's, i've never been bullied or anything like that, it's been all good. I think i could use a couple more inches for certain things but i find that being small in our world makes life more comfortable for me than say being 6'6" would be. I just fit into anything, besides adult clothes..lol
That's awesome dude.
Being short can be an advantage. My oldest son was always the shortest kid in the class, and he was on wrestling teams from 7 years old on up. He had a whole strategy taking advantage of being shorter, and his opponents fell like bowling pins.
@@Hollylivengood but generally women prefer tall men so it must have had an evolutionary advantage.
@@bureaffari3694generally women prefer fit athletic men too? Then why are most skinny fat slobs? Also gnerally women prefer rich men, then why are most men poor
@@bureaffari3694 don't attribute to evolution what you can attribute to societal conditioning
I’m surprised that you didn’t talk more about how one’s physical environment affects height. The elevation, flora, and climate all have big effects on the height of a group of people. You’ll notice that the tallest members of a groups of people tend to be from flatter, open areas- while shorter people tend to be from mountainous and densely forested areas. This is true of many groups of people all over the world!
Edit:
Just to be more clear- I’m saying that over time humans evolve and adapt to their environments, and certain environmental factors seem to be correlated to height. Whether it causes them to become taller or shorter
Yes that's true. "Mountain people" are almost everywhere a little bit shorter, and more sturdy.
@@petervermeer.4904 I think the “sturdiness” might have to do with their adaptation to the cold, as mountains are always colder then the surrounding low lands
I'm guessing this is because long legs allows for ease of running, while small bodies makes for ease of climbing.
He mentioned small african peoples in forest.
Environment or nutrition do not affect significant height differences. Someone whose highest potential is 180 cm cannot be 160 cm even with bad nutrition or cannot be 200+ cm even with best nutrition. He will be always around 180 cm +/- 1 or 2 inches. Nutrition or environment can only affect upto 2-2.5 inches. Highest with medical support it could go upto 3 inches. It never could be more significant. Therefore, gene is the most important factor in determining height.
When I visited the Netherlands, I felt so tiny! I'm 5'7" which is above average in the US but in the Netheralnds, I had 11-year-olds looking down at me.
The dutch were also tall during hunter gathering days (5'8 for men) but then shrunk during farming with less protein diets. Then grew again with modernisation
ua-cam.com/video/FFUwJMcMlyg/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
Well it can appear that way, being dwarfed. It is average height, meaning half the young adult population is less than the mean, 68% of the population is one standard deviation plus and minus from the mean. So there would be plenty of Nederlanders who are not tall, as not every young adult male will be 6'1" tall.
Great topic, thank you once again for your dedication in helping to unlock the mysteries of our evolution.
Woke up right on time, todays gonna be a great day, thank God. And thank you North, you're one of the best youtubers in my book.
Love seeing your videos, this is by far one of the most pronounced series I've commited my time to online since I discovered UA-cam.
It's even been a very inspiring force for my own writing project. Your videos and uniquely detailed topics are important and personally very moving. Keep up the passionate work, North!
If anything, North 02 is dedicated to providing his subscribers quality content. His sources of information are deep.
A lot of these old drawings are straight from a children's book on evolution from the early 90s that I read.I still have it to this day to educate my nephews. While much of its info was outdated, the pictures aged very well.
I love images like that, they give me so much nostalgia.
@Prime The USborne picture prehistory early man
@@bossross2.08 what stood out as outdated?
I remember those pictures as I was interested in human evolution as a child. Yes, some ideas about human evolution have changed quite a bit particularly about Neanderthals, and the various assumptions made from fossils of skulls.
The second most influential factor on height today is quality protein consumption during childhood and adolescence so that lines up with hunter gatherers being taller and generally more robust. Then when we switched to grain based diets we got significantly shorter. Also dental health took a nose dive.
It’s interesting how biological anthropologists can just casually say humans function better on a meat based diet and it doesn’t spark a huge vegetarian/vegan vs omnivore/carnivore debate lol. It seems pretty clear which one we thrive on.
Nevertheless we did make adaptations to a more carb-based diet. Eating grain food is perfectly fine and they're a part of a balanced and healthy diet. Going to the extremes on both sides can be harmful
@@Me-yq1fl BMI isnit bullcrap for the vast majority of the population. It gives a 40lb+/- range for a healthy weight. Don't tell me you have fallen for the haes bs.
Those vegan/vegetarian studies haven't been accepted by the scientific community as they are flawed from the start. They didn't account for lifestyles or obese/overweight people or separate vegan/vegetarian people.
@@Me-yq1fl we were talking about height here and you diverged on something else
@@Me-yq1fl this guy said BMI is bullshit yet talking about diets and nutrition. Youre probably think youre intellectual or smart yet are probabky fat and dont lift. Indicating your true stupidity and tuat only you can hide from yourself. But that extra body fat shows your low IQ.
@@Me-yq1fl Living til 90 wasn't practical for people who had to hunt mega fauna to survive. They just needed to be at peak performance until they could reproduce and teach their offspring to hunt.
Thank you so so so sooooo very much for everything you do on this channel. This is one of my all time favorite UA-cam channels. Prehistoric history is one of the most interesting things ever to me.
You can see the difference in my family. My father was 5'11", I'm 6'1", my son is 6'2" and my grandson is 6'4". About a five inch height gain, in as many generations. Since the average modern human, matures at around 25 years old. My son and I may be a bit stunted. I enlisted in the Marines at 17, and he enlisted at 18. We may have lost out on about an inch of growth, due to the physical stress.
Really tho? Most guys I know are done growing around 17-18. My knee plates were sealed at 17.
@@bureaffari3694so it’s possibly I can grow up to seven feet still? I’m sixteen and I am 5’9 and a half and I am pretty tall for my age (67th percentile) but I remember a long time ago in a video call with my doctor (before 2020 lol 😅) he said that based on my X rays I could potentially grow up to seven feet. I do have scoliosis albeit mild one so I don’t know…
@@AlekseyMaksimovichPeshkovBuddy growing to 7 feet is no fun I am 6.2 I haven't noticed any benefits of height my head bums in doorways of things that's the only benefit.
@@AlekseyMaksimovichPeshkovu should check ur iq levels
Yes, there is a thing called the regression to the mean. What that means is that height cannot keep increasing generation after generation, there is a limit to that.
The thing with height is, it's very variable generation to generation. Yes there's a good genetic component as you pointed out, with various haplogroups having solid predisposition to being towards or above 6 foot, but the larger part(as my limited understanding of the science goes) comes from protein consumption during your growth phase(before plate closure due to hormonal signaling) Milk might be a double edged sword there, as milk can increase estrogen a slight amount, and the hormonal signal for plate closure is an estrogen pulse, at least in men. Which means other proteins sources like eggs and meat might be even better for trying to optimize height in your kids. It's a fascinating topic, and I'm really grateful you went into such detail, in such a candid manner. You really do produce fantastic educational content, so keep it up, for our sake.
Still you potential is limited by genes, no normal human can grow to say 10ft no matter the amount of proteing or optimal diet they follow.
haplogroups and autosomal DNA is quite different
In Stuttgart I felt like a manlet at 174cm/5'8" but in Strasbourg I felt like I towered over the crowd. I think I've grown about 1cm since then, but it still astounds me how entire regions or areas, even diverse ones, seem to have a more or less average height when you go out in public.
For germans anything below 5'10 is pretty much manlet range.
@@thatboyunfazed99 bruh average height in Germany is 5'11.
Als ich in Lissabon war, war es sehr lustig, weil die Leute dort alle echt klein sind. Ich bin 1,66m und konnte über die Köpfe schauen haha
@@Tesjhkyayy Genau das Gefühl, wenn man in Mexico City ankommt. Die Leute dort sind erstaunlich winzig aber viel wärmer als die Mehrheit der Europäer.
In South Sudan the average height of the Dinka man is 6’3 with many who are over 7 foot in their home country with everything working against them. Here in the Twin cities in Minnesota we have a lot of East Africans many who where refugees and had kids here and I have met a few who where extremely tall like 6’8 +
It’s widely considered that Nilotic groups such as Dinka are tallest genetically in the world. Although in modern day they may struggle, historically they were a pastoral people who consumed a lot of meat and dairy.
Compared to shit diets in Europe they probably lived very healthy lives
I have never been to South Sudan, but there are South Sudanese in my town in Australia, and yes, quite a number are tall. However many are much the same as tall people of other ethnic groups.
This might seem an off-road request, but I would love a vid about deep sea creatures. The super-interesting ones in the hadal zone. It's hopeful, fun and fascinating to see life under a sort-of-new-rulebook (or is it the oldest?).
But as expected - a top notch vid. What if netflix gave you a ton of cash, and boom an excellent human evolution doc. Could be my christmas gift?
As long as there's no giant deep sea creatures (except the colossal squid), cause they're just terrifying.
@@dependentmany8359 Oh, I love watching them! Weirdly I think spiders are yuck, but those hairy crabs are fascinating.
@@sksk-bd7yv 😂😭
You sound so grown up, North. I don’t think it’s just the mic! You’re so talented. Best videos. You tell the visual story as well, which I really love.
Any source to suggest that Upper Paleolithic humans were that tall? I have seen averages of 173 cm, which is already significative and only matched recently by modern humans. Cromagnon 1 (at 4:31 we can see his reconstruction on the left?) was estimated to have been around that height too. Not sure about anything close to 180 cm.
Regarding the skeleton gracilization, that change can be observed already on the Upper Paleolithic (Brno, Predmost, etc...), although it s a process that may not be directly linked to a height change. Stable hunter-gatherer settlements probably led to a more sedentary lifestyle. First known Mediterranean skulls appeared on the Brno region, before the last big Ice Age (around 25.000 years ago). They evolved from Cromagnoid and Aurignacoid types. This area had mammoth hunters. Some Mesolithic European hunters also were way more sedentary than Ice Age hunters, included more vegetables and aquatic animals on their diet and were of shorter stature (estimated to be around 165 cm for males in Muge, for example). The tallest average estimate that I have seen was for the Taforalt hunters (although they were from Morocco) and it was between 176-179 cm. But yes, it seems established, that the Neolithic led to even a more marked decrease in height.
it is difficult to link safely a single Y-DNA haplogroup to a tendency to get taller :Y-DNA itself represents only a very small fraction of all the human DNA, moreover, when it is from thousands of years ago (and it seems to be not that common in the Netherlands?)... It is still a possiblity, but Upper Paleolithic haplogroups/haplotypes exist everywhere in Europe, and some are older than that one.
Whenever I look at the thumbnail I see a giant sloth dancing with the humans….now, I know that’s not what it is, but I chuckle a little each time
Have you heard of the partially dna sequencing of one of the 'Red Deer cave people' that happen in July this year?
Red Deer, Alberta?
@@JesusFriedChrist no from China
@@JesusFriedChrist I never could figure out why they named a place in Canada after an animal that doesn't exist in the new world (at least not until people brought them here).
@@Stephen85 younger country
There’s so little info around on the red deer cave people I was starting to wonder if the find had been discredited. Do you know any good content on this?
Our genus has certainly gone through some very interesting changes. I wonder what environmental pressures each one went through. Thank you for the video.
I look forward to the video you will make in 50 years :)
Agreed. I can't wait!
Really enjoyed this topic. The evolution of your channel is as interesting as your content 😁
Im American and 6’8” tall, my father was from northern Germany and he was 6’7”. His father was 6’6” and his mother was 6’. And with her it began. So I can see how the last 100yrs has improved height. I grew up on a farm and drank raw milk as a little kid, ate game, home grown vegetables a lot growing up but also a lot of American junk food.
Keep up the good work, dude.
I’m 18 and 171cm tall. This is effectively dwarfism for a male in my family, as there are only two women on either side of my family that aren’t taller than me (i.e my grandmother is 175cm tall and she was born in 1946). I don’t know what went wrong, but literally all of my male relatives are heads and shoulder taller than me.
sorry
Have you asked your Mom, how many times she dropped you, on your head. ;-) Thats what I always tell my little brother, as everyone, including my sisters, are taller then him.
Do you look like your dad or... like... a mailman? Maybe? Sorry lol. Sometimes genes just fuck you over. My daughter has curled hair, only one of her granddads has curls. Literally noone else in the entire family tree. You might have had poor eating habits, you might gave a hormonal disbalance, maybe your pregnancy was weak or you were a fuzzy baby - the first years count a lot.
@@princesseville6889 I’ve been doing MMA since I was 5 years old with genetically high muscle mass (even prior to adolescent years). I ate very healthy from a young age. In all likelihood, I should have been at least 190cm tall, and 195cm if I was following the upward trend in height that’s supposed to be occurring.
@@АлтайскийКазак Yeah, but you're not 195cm so clearly something went wrong.
Always answering the questions I've pondered over, excellent channel.
I was just watching another video you did on predators preying on humans, and I wonder if the height thing has to do with a defense against predation. I know it helps somewhat. I have a friend who used to lead outdoor education classes here in Tennessee, and he swears black bears are not as problematic as people make them out to be, because he's met up with them repeatedly, and they are never a problem. To be clear, the average size of a black bear is about 6 1/2 feet, and my friend is seven ft tall, solid bone and muscle and looks like a blond bear. Everyone backs away from him, and I'm told black bears even bob their head in apology and back away from him. I notice that many of the countries with very tall people also have animals like this to deal with. Even sharks leave you alone while swimming, if you are longer than they are, and if you dolphin kick when you see them.
Humans are fragile af for hominids and especially compared to other animals. Your 7 foot friend would get absolutely mauled by a starving black bear if he was barehanded. Our strength comes from our intelligence and our intelligent adaptations that allow us to seem bigger than we really are. In terms of actual practicality and combat use height advantages would be negligible, humans always fight with some type of weapon whether that be a spear in the past or a gun nowadays. I don’t think being tall would help you throw/wield a spear better than any other sized person. Most likely not in hunting and if we’re talking solely about predation like in your example the slight strength difference from being a lil taller wouldn’t be enough compared to a compact and powerful predator like a bear. When you’re being hunted by a predator though the goal isn’t to fight them the goal is to intimidate and scare them away like your friend did and that’s the true benefit of being tall. Just like a bear standing on its hind legs you look bigger and more intimidating and gives the impression that you’re more dangerous than u really are.
@@Kunumbah1 That's actually what I meant. Probably everybody knew that. All animals can take us out. We're prey. We stay alive because we're smarter. It's the psychology of the height I'm saying, not the actual fact.
How old are you?
@@tribequest9 Ha ha. Just saying, however genetics forms in the mix, nothing happens at all unless the lady wants the man. The average woman who lives daily with the threat of predators, who sees a seven foot tall guy stand up and shoo a dangerous bear away, and decide that's the guy for her. If she mates with THAT guy, her kids will live. If she mates with the shorter guy, her kids might die. Sure enough, the ladies all mate with the tall guys. Easy math.
@@Kunumbah1 Humans aren't fragile. We are one of the best endurance runners in the animal kingdom and we have one of the best visions of all mammals, not to mention how hyper-social we are as a species. Physical strength may not be our strong side but intelligence definitely isn't our only evolutionary advantage.
Very interesting video, i think the problem with figuring out why different groups evolved height is complicated because a lot of these imo are caused by sexual selection, a lot of time this is turns out being very un intuitive and illogical, this preference might be cultural but can also be genetic, a genetic preference for tall males. Whether is cultural or genetic i think it is also possible for a society to have a preference for one sex being taller and the other shorter so maybe it evens itself out. For example maybe in the states height is valued in males but they want shorter women or more precisely they dislike tall women. The netherlands could be the same but they don't like or don't dislike tall women so only the females are choosing tall mates so it ends up going in that direction.
Pygmies on the other hand are tough but it looks like it's more of an environmental cause a mix between poor nutrition and an evolved efficient use of it, hence the small stature.
Anyways my point is sexual selection is a pain to discern because tastes are very subjective and psychological, a lot of times has no evolutionary advantage besides being a clear way to rate a sexual partner. There are a ton of animals that have big or small body parts many times to their detriment because of this, think babirusa, narwhal, Proboscis monkey, etc or simply common animals like peacocks and deer.
I think the biggest sexual selector is survivability.
incel like- the women chose the tall males thereeforeeeee the height was increased
There are lots of factors that govern attractiveness other than height.
The Netherlands essentially sat out the two world wars. In most countries, there is, and has long been, minimum height requirements for military service. This, logically, means that young men of average to above-average heights are more likely to be killed during wars, reducing the average height gene pool of the relevant nation. This might have been particularly true of France after WWI.
Like France, Britain and Germany also have a long history of welfare states, as does the Netherlands. I know that this “tall-Dutchman -because-socialism” hypothesis is popular with the political left.
Never thought about it, great observation and thanks for sharing.
It's interesting how my parents who were kids in times of poverty during WWII in Italy and my brothers and I have an approximate 10cm height difference. That's a really big jump in one generation. I know it's putting things simplistically, but it is an interesting topic (not my family's height 😄 Height in general!)
To me, there are SO many factors more important to survival & capabilities , than height.
Generally, you’ll find that the people who care the most about height are either very tall or very short.
It’s not purely “environmental” in the individual sense. Multiple sequential generations of “no famine” can result in inherited epigenetic changes favouring larger body size. Also - since the invention of the train and bicycle - there has been greater “outbreeding” within all human populations, starting in Europe and America. Prior to these inventions most people mated within a relatively closed local population. Expanding mate selection to the regional level can result in much less inbreeding. The reduced inbreeding since the late 19th century has potentially improved many indicators, of which height is just one.
My brother and I (born in the 90's and raised in the USA) are both 5'9 even though my parents (born in the 60's and raised in Mexio) are 5'0 and 5'4 respectively. Nutrition during childhood and adolescence really goes a long way!
Another excellent documentary. Educational, well-edited, great voice and gentle music.
Beautiful as always!
I an 189 cm tall Dutchman myself, I can confirm that sleep is very important.
As a Dutchy I believe that the diet made us kinda tall and woman don't date men that are shorter then their selfs over here so we keep getting taller. Kids are getting huge over here
I hate being American and have to really think about the metric system when I hear measurements. I think it’s time to make the switch to metric. Are we just going to be the only major country that doesn’t use it forever? If not, why not just make the change now? If so, why?
I am an American too, I just learned metric system heights from making this video. It’s not as hard as I thought. I still barely know kilograms though.
I thought you were American (or maybe Canadian) from your accent. Then when you said everything in centimeters I figured you weren’t American. Then at the end you said you were American.
@@RoccosVideos As of next year I’ll be Italian🇮🇹
@@NORTH02 Oh nice. You’ll learn metric then. I know centimeters in small amount but in bigger numbers I’m not as sure. I would love to live in Europe for a few years but I’m getting too settled here and there’s a lot keeping me here now.
No country using the metric system, has ever put a man on the Moon.
I love you North 02❤
I like that the thumbnail looks like a giant sloth dance party
Great video!👏🏼
Pls make videos of genetics of different human populations.
Being tall is not necesserily healthy. In fact, most blue zones in the world are where people are very short. For instance Okinawa, Sardinia, etc. Never saw a 2 meters tall centenarian. That being said, being short due to monoculture and malnutrition is terrible for the health. But reaching maximum stature due to rich diets does not necesseraly translate into longer lifespan.
This. Outside of malnutrition related stunting most of height variation is genetic. I feel like this video could have been better if it focused more n that and how genetic changes overtime (not just sexual selection but migrations and conquests) impacted populations.
@@DM-ql6ps yeah, too simplistic. Being a big animal has its advantages and weeknesses and animals are capable of changing size in just a few generations. Plus the biggest mammals are vegetarians. Big flaws in overstating diet. Nowadays probably other factors like vaccines and modern medication protect children from being constantly sick and therefore their body could focus on growth. It's certainly multifactorial like most things in biology.
@@impressions9558 Childhood infections can have a fairly big impact on height - periods of illness even from small things like measles interrupt growth. It's also now possible for larger infants (and smaller infants) to survive - historically babies that were unusually large often did not survive birth.
@@DM-ql6ps Living in ever bigger comunities in narrower spaces and extremely poor sanitation and no modern sewage permited the profileration of pandemics, infections, etc. Probably this had a detrimental effect on growth. This has not even been mentioned.
The average height of Americans may be decreasing due to immigration from other countries, most our population came from northern Europe, now we see immigration from every populated continent.
Doesn't obesity also affect height?
@@kovona We aren't talking about me ;)
Immigration has nothing to do with hight. You just being racist
@@kovona yes and we can’t blame obesity on immigrants either
Poor nutrition and empty calorie foods also taking our height down
Have you ever worked the land? Clearing tilling planting and harvesting. A lot more energy goes into farming then than ambush hunting. Nutrition and disease were the primary factors.
Especially for the nutrition you get out of it. Subsistence grain farming is hardly a living, it really makes you wonder how in the hell these people made it that long.
Let's go! Just got in from grocery shopping and then I'm treated to this?!
I love the graph showing how the height decreased with agriculture and increase again to what it was in the Palaeolithic once meat was again in our diet in high quantities, if a vegan sees this he would loose his mind.
So many shelters depicted as made from bone... They probably mostly used wood, but that left fewer traces.
Mammoth were mostly found on the plains or steppes, so hunters in those areas would have less access to wood vs mammoth bones/hide.
Great video as usual. Thanks
Great material, as always. The bit about the Pigmy Peoples got me curious about whether they have any medical/physiological differences compared to a "typical" Human. I'll look into it. Cheers.
Pls do a video on prehistoric india
I love your videos and this one is pretty good hope to see more
Also I hope yall are having a fantastic day
Being short makes you deadly
Good video, thank you for your content, I liked and subscribed
Height seems to correlate decently to different Y and Mt DNA halpgroups as you allude to. The story is pretty complex, more complex than you go into here, and really interesting. For example, your reference to pygmies and the dinka tribe is also an observation of the difference between Y-DNA haplogroup B (pygmies), and Y-DNA halpogroup A (the dinka tribe), which would have been one of the oldest "splits" in anatomically modern humans heights happening somewhere around 130k BCE. It's likely that humans with haplogroup A were likely relatively tall and existed in a relatively homogenous group for about 135k years, until they split with BT who was much shorter. CT branches off from B somewhere around 100k-88k years ago, and then starts getting taller (and interbreeds with Neanderthals at this point), and then goes to split on to the rest of the Y-DNA haplogroups, all of which than go on to evolve various average height levels depending on the specific group. Effectively, modern humans start relatively tall, break off into tall vs shorts, some of the shorts bounce and have sex with some randoms, then go on to spread around the world and then some of them get tall again while others stay short.
thanks for recommending "have good genetics". i would've forgotten otherwise. 😂
I'm considered very tall for my ethnicity (Black Jamaican) and nationality (American) at a height of 6'3/191 cm. My younger brother at the age of 14 is already 5'10 or 177cm, while our parents are average height and below average height. I'm not exactly sure where I got my height from.
Prolly from ur great great grandparents, me myself almost 6'2 barefoot (187cm) my lil bro 14 176cm, as Asians we're well above average, meanwhile my dad only 5'8 n my mom 5'3, all males from my dad family side except my dad is over 5'9. It's prolly from grandparents genes.
Another great video!!! I would really be interested in a video on bipedalism. Thank you for your consideration
The American height average is decreasing because of the Latino/ Hispanic population increase. The average European descended/ white American isn’t getting any shorter.
Hahah this is kinda racist. Canadians and Europeans are the ones whose flocking into america the most
@@joemontes4658
It’s not racist. Look up the average heights of central and South America and compare them to Europe. Kindly explain why the white population would be any shorter than their native European counterparts.
@@kiuk_kiks you gotta understand too we live in different regions now. Look at people in I believe Nigeria or somewhere around there people have stronger lungs than us because of their region. Americans have bad health issues also. When you’re fat it messes up your height as well. This why the whites should’ve stayed in Europe if they’re worried about the size
@@joemontes4658
I’m telling you that Americans of European ancestry are just as tall as their European counterparts. It’s the growing Hispanic (central and South American) people who are reducing the average height of Americans.
I should thank my mom as she clearly took great care of me as a child, as I'm 197cm towering over most people. Her nutrition plans were on point!
I'm a 5'6 British male 175 pounds.
To be honest i actually really love my height since i wrestle with my friend group for fun and I'm the shortest. And let me tell you, although your reach may be short, once i grab an arm or get your waist...you going down to 0 feet real fast
Plus its hilarious to see the overconfidence of a new 6+ foot opponent looking down on you calling you a "short ass" just for them to arch their back in a headlock and giving them the most intense nuggy they've ever experienced.
Your friend group is soft and weak
@@Sothpawman You really just called a friend group that wrestles "soft and weak".
I would like to see a photo of your friend group lmfao.
Soon upcoming, the evolution of human width, because we all know it is a thing.
Love, Love your channel.
I was hoping for a bit of analysis on the height of people during Roman and middle age times, but great video! Also would have loved a graph of height throughout the ages, but great work overall
2:40 This is America hit so hard even our ancestors are listening to it.
Thanks for sharing 🙏🏾
In the eighties, Norwegian military published a study regarding the average height increase in conscripts over the last 100 years. There was a steady linear graph of increase.
The interesting part was, if you followed the same growth linear graph in reverse back in time, the vikings would have been 60cm (23.6 inches) tall😂
Sure, but that's only if it keeps going linear. I was just in Ireland, and guides pointed out several times how beds, door frames, etc. were taller for nobles in the 1100s than in the 1600s, bc people had actually gotten shorter due to to bigger populations and poorer nutrition. So average Irish height today is taller than in Victorian era, but the same as "Pagan" era, almost like they got back to the 'normal" height. Surprising.
The reason to the United States is becoming shorter is the growth of the Latino population, which tends to be a little shorter
No
@@pigvomit_50.. lmao yes, they and Asian populations are decreasing the height mean
I would like you to make a video about the evolution of the human nose - its shape that is unique and clearly very different from the apes we know.
this video got me thinking if right now we are selecting for personality traits rather than physical traits.
Interesting idea
Great topic and well presented!
Interesting trade offs between hunter-gatherer and agricultural lifestyles. Although nutrition was for a long time poorer in the latter, I think it did provide the surpluses and leisure (not a bunch, but a hey a little) to allow the beginnings of culture to develop.
Insular drawfism is very real. The deer on the mainland where I live are about as tall as I am, (five feet, ten inches) factoring the antler height of a dominant male. Less for females. On an island within the extreme range a human can swim, a large male maybe reaches my waist, lower rib cage at maximum. Given the local history, this doesn't take very long in evolutionary terms. Size is always a common variable within a species and the right sized critter is more successful at mating and established a more specialized population of offspring. In this case a smaller body means a small energy requirement and that is a direct result of less nutritious food found on the island. On the mainland they have all sorts of lawns and gardens to browse. More nutrition to support a bigger body
Yes. North02.... didn't get the notification....glad I came to look.
I'm 6'4" and I'm almost exclusively descended the British Isle people. With a 3rd great grandmother who was German. I'm also 210#'s, red headed, green eyed, left handed, and athletic. Must be some Viking DNA....
Being a 6'3 200 pound male I can tell you being tall has profound advantages in the way people see and treat you. Especially women. Anyone who says different is most likely short and just trying to sooth their ego. (I'm so sorry if your short) 😀
One thing that I feel like every dude understands is like physical hierarchy in your friend group especially as kids or teenagers. Everyone has the one friends who can beat everyone up or knows where they are on the pecking order. I suspect this has an affect on how you interact socially with not only your friends but other people aswell.
This isn’t nice
Great video !!! I am 6'6 240 lb, third generation American, my ancestry is frisain an ethnic minority in the Netherlands, archeology has shown that Dairy farming on the terp Mounds has been going on for the last 2,000 years milking barns similar to how we construct them to this day... I am extremely lactose tolerant at 58 years old can't live without consuming some type of milk product daily mainly by the glass..
🐄=🏋️
I’m 6’1 185, I got a leaner Scandinavian like build that is common in the Midwest from Norwegian and German heritage. My grandpa and earlier generations were cow farmers so I may have them to thank. I also cannot go 12 hours without milk. I have at least 4 glasses a day.
@@NORTH02 There might be something to that. My family has been ranchers, on the Colombia Plateau, since 1827. Along with about a gazillion beeves, they all kept five milk cows. I have no idea how much meat and milk, I consumed growing up but, we're all tall. Except my little brother, who is a midget, at only 5'11".
I am typing this while laughing at the thought of the UA-cam admins getting butt-hurt over Australopithecine nudity. 😆
Recently much more accurate biometric analysis puts Cro Magnon and Neanderthal at over six feet tall. European hominids were BOTH taller AND more robust, thicker and larger by about 50 percent, than African hominids.
Yay new video
as a 188 cm tall bosnian im happy to see my country here
I'm dutch. People in my country are indeed insanely tall. I'm 1.83 (over 6ft) and I'm considered short here.....
The average overall length here is 1.84cm and in the North it's even 187cm on average.....
@@keewee3135 I'm 230lbs and bench 370lbs. Wouldn't call myself skinny.
@@keewee3135 bruv you based your whole opinion of this on 1 dude who isn't even dutch.....yeah very scientific.
Love your videos
Nice Job!
Could you make a vid on why people have different hair texture
What I learned: Dutch women like tall men. 🙂
*all women like tall men
Well, that could all change very quickly considering how common conflicts are, and how dependent all societies are on a steady food supply, and good agricultural conditions.
I hope people will evolve to be able to hear your videos. They are very LOW VOLUME.
I remember in 9th grade PhyEd class, boys lined up by height, and I ended up in the top 20%, but another year later and I was barely average probably. I'm 5'9" tall ,and same as my dad's dad, while my dad was shorter. I thought being 6 feet tall would be nice, but glad I stopped at 5'9", tall enough and I think there's more health issues from being taller. PLUS if I was much taller, my feet would hang over the end of my bed! I dated women mostly 5'2"-5'4", but one was 5'7", but strangely her arms were longer so she could reach higher than me!
Well if you want tall sons than marry a 5’6 or 5’7 woman that always works. I’m sixteen and I’m 5’9 and a half and I’m pretty tall for my age: 67th percentile
I’m from a Dutch town and the average height is easily above 6’. I’m short for where I’m from but elsewhere I’m usually one of the taller people present
1:54 this shows exactly why hominids were fucking terrifying. I don't mean physically imposing -- a lion will always be more -- but imagine how terror inducing it must have felt being cornered by a troop of bizarre bipedal maniacs hollering and going literally apeshit.
where are all these ancient men getting their beards trimmed?
Thanks North
The thumbnail looks like a prehistoric dance party.
I have read that by the second or third generation, immigrants to the Netherlands are basically as tall as the natives.
When I look around me I am not sure if it exactly like that, but younger people who speak the language fluently (i.e. grew up here to parents who may not have) do tend to be around my height.
This is the case for indos, for Turkish people, for Caribbeans and others.
That thumbnail made it look like they were all dancing together to a song 💀
My ancestors on the male line that I know of, were all above the average height, although they were peasant farmers. I am 1,92 meters tall and my son is 1,98 meters tall, and we belong to haplogroup *G2a* which was also the majority haplogroup of the first *Neolithic farmers.* I think we are clearly above the average of those of haplogroup I2. So, the study should be slightly revised. ;) 9:30
I was literally 184cm tall by age 14 but did not grow since then. Used to be the largest boy in my class all through primary school, by 10th grade my height was about average. I live close to the Dutch border in Germany.
I have a few friends like that. They were giants to us as kids and now they are small. Weird how it works.
@@DG-iw3yw nah. started that no later than two years after growth had constunted.
I was 178cm at 14 but haven't grown since then either. You're not the only one if it makes you feel better about it. I'm from Sweden.
@@skeptic781 Are we twins? I'm from Sweden too and I was also around 177-178 at age 14-15 and haven't really grown that much since.
I think women still select for height today so tall men will produce more offspring resulting in a steady increase in height.
200 iq
Yeah but don’t most kids inherit most of their physical traits from the mother, at least the eldest? Because that certainly was the case for me and I’m the oldest