Examination of female Neanderthal pelvic bones in conjunction with skulls of Neanderthal infants illustrates that among Neanderthals, birth was a more difficult and dangerous process than in humans. It can be presumed that the rate of Neanderthal mortality of mothers during birth and infant mortality were far greater than even the relatively high rates that prevailed among modern humans prior to the development of modern medicine. In that regard, childbirth in undeveloped countries still reflects those dangers.

The fact that Neanderthals had comparatively greater nutritional needs to support rapid brain growth suggests that one of the main reasons for their demise was that they were unable to compete successfully with modern humans after the latter first arrived in Neanderthal habitats approximately 35,000 years ago. Likewise, the longer childhoods of Neanderthals inferred from evidence deduced from studies of their teeth seems to indicate that Neanderthals had developed cooperative hunting strategies and...
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