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2024-11-11

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Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat (www.science.org)

submitted 14 hours ago by [email protected] to c/science

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Diet has long been hypothesized as a driver of change among hominins, especially with regard to the increase in brain size. Dietary niches reconstructed based on these fossils showed that the Australopithecus individuals had diets very similar to both contemporaneous and modern herbivores but different from carnivores.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

The growth of brain size since Australopithecus might be due to a shift in diet away from the ape diets, I wonder what the cecum size was at that stage

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

Learning to use fire also opened up a lot more nutrients from plants including legumes and tubers that are inedible or less nutritious without cooking.

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