More than 50 million people live in the remote parts of the Himalayas and their very existence is dependent on the mountains and its resources.

But exactly how these mountain dwellers survive in the high-altitude and the ease with which they deal with the physical challenges of scaling world’s biggest peaks has remained unknown.

But there are some clues. According to a research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, these mountain dwellers have a major genetic component that allows populations at high altitude to live better. The scientists are still unclear exactly how those genes work and help people survive in low-oxygen condition, but they also believe that there are probably other mutations that also help and different populations for example people in the highlands of Ethiopia.

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