New research suggests that Neanderthal toddlers grew faster than their modern human counterparts due to the harsh environment they evolved in. The discovery was made using the bones of a young Neanderthal discovered in Amud Cave in northern Israel in the 1990s. The study suggests that the two species followed different evolutionary paths after they split from a common ancestor around 600,000 years ago. The Amud 7 skeleton was found in over 100 pieces, which included fragments of the child's arms, legs, chest and skull, all displaying distinctively Neanderthal anatomical features. However, due to their rarity, the age at death of Amud 6 has been difficult to determine. The researchers found that while newborn Neanderthals were comparable with modern human newborns in terms of tooth formation, tooth eruption and the lengths of the arm and leg bones, they had significantly larger skulls.