On the path of evolution from chimpanzees and bonobos on one hand, and the genus Homo on the other, in between is Australopithecus, about 3.5 million years ago. Analysis of tooth enamel from Australopithecus remains in South Africa shows that this human ancestor ate very little meat and relied predominantly on plant based food.
The underlying paper is: Tina Lüdecke, Jennifer N. Leichliter, Dominic Stratford, Daniel M. Sigman, Hubert Vonhof, Gerald H. Haug, Marion K. Bamford, Alfredo Martínez-García. "Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat." 387 (6731) Science 309 (January 2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adq7315
3 comments:
A. afarensis (Lucy, Dik-1) had laryngeal air sacs as seen in chimps, gorillas, orangs, siamangs. Humans and gibbons don't. Australopiths are not direct ancestors of Homo, were probably closer to Pan, whose ancestors were more bipedal than today's extant chimps & bonobos. So I would expect mainly vegetation/fruit, with some insect larvae, eggs, small primates in their diet.
DDeden
A. afarensis (Lucy, Dik-1) had laryngeal air sacs as seen in chimps, gorillas, orangs, siamangs
reference ?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selam_(Australopithecus)
"Here we describe a well-preserved 3.3-million-year-old juvenile partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered in the Dikika research area of Ethiopia. The skull of the approximately three-year-old presumed female shows that most features diagnostic of the species are evident even at this early stage of development. The find includes many previously unknown skeletal elements from the Pliocene hominin record, including a hyoid bone that has a typical African ape [hominid] morphology."
Unlike all Homo fossil hyoid bones known, A. afarensis hyoid resembles chimp hyoid.
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