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rising_ape t1_j50xhr4 wrote

Reply to comment by HornedDiggitoe in Given that reproduction is difficult or impossible when both animals have different numbers of chromosomes, how did so many species evolve to have so many different numbers of them? by MercurioLeCher

Interestingly, our empathy "to care for the weak" may be more important than our knowledge of farming and agriculture here - we've found Neanderthal fossils that were severely disabled in life and would have been unable to care for themselves, but whose bones reveal that their initial injuries healed and that they lived on for years despite being "dead weight" (physically, at least).

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HornedDiggitoe t1_j50xrqe wrote

Right, but that would’ve only been possible if the Neanderthals had enough extra food to feed themselves and the disabled Neanderthal. You don’t necessarily need agriculture to have an abundance of food, but it certainly helps a tonne to make food abundance widespread.

It still circles back to being about food in the end.

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