Neanderthals Ate Bugs Like Chimps — We Wouldn't Touch Them for 33,000 Years

Your ancestors refused to eat bugs for 33,000 years — but Neanderthals crunched them like chimps. A brand-new study of ancient teeth proves it. Scientists screened 745 samples of ancient dental calculus — fossilized plaque from teeth up to 33,000 years old — hunting for insect DNA. Modern human teeth? Almost zero. Neanderthal teeth? Loaded with insect DNA, as much as a wild chimpanzee's. So why were we the fussy ones? The answer is written into the enzymes in your stomach — and your squeamishness might be 9,000 years old. Chapters: 0:00 The Cricket Test 0:44 Teeth Are Time Capsules 1:37 Neanderthal Teeth: Loaded With Insects 2:01 The Chimpanzee Comparison 2:32 The Carcass Hypothesis 3:50 Chitin: The Armor in Your Gut 6:34 Recap: They Crunched, We Cringed 7:40 Would You Try the Cricket? New videos every week on Primal Explainer — the strange, true science of ancient human life. #ancienthumans #neanderthals #humanevolution