Submitted by nodeciapalabras t3_ylu0ir in askscience
byllz t1_iv4038c wrote
Reply to comment by za419 in Why don't we have Neandertal mitochondrial DNA? by nodeciapalabras
It isn't just the growth, it is the sheer population. Suppose you had an ancient generation that was down to 2 women with matrilinear descendants. One line accounts for 99.9999% of the current population, and the other the rest. If your world population is 1,000,000, then the likelihood you will have a new Eve pretty soon is high, as there is currently only 1 woman left of the minority line, and the chance of any given woman not having daughters, or her daughters not having daughters is pretty high. But if the world population is 8,000,000,000 then the chance of a new Eve is low any time soon as you would need 8000 such occurrences.
[deleted] t1_iv4dvl0 wrote
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