Our early ancestors weren't big meat eaters after all

The earliest human ancestors weren't big meat eaters, according to new scientific research on their fossilized remains. Australopithecus africanus—a bipedal primate that lived between 3.2 and 2 million years ago—were primarily vegetarians.

How do we know? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and colleagues analyzed the teeth of seven A. africanus individuals found in South African caves. Their technique for examining tooth enamel is an important new tool for studying ancient diets.

From Science News:

Diet has been a crucial component of human evolution, says Tina Lüdecke, a geochemist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. A switch from a vegetarian diet to the habitual consumption of high-protein foods like meat is hypothesized to have fueled the evolution of humans' cognitive superpowers.

"These high-quality foods provide us with a lot of energy, which we need to power our huge brains," Lüdecke says[…]

The results also don't rule out the primates eating lots of termites — a reliable, high-energy food — since they contain relatively less of the form of nitrogen elevated in mammalian meat. "We see that apes nowadays [fish for termites], so why not our ancestors?"

Previously:
• Dozens of monkeys escaped South Carolina research facility, residents told to lock doors and windows
• Study finds that many primates engage in same-sex behavior, to reduce social conflict