Did ancient apes eat meat?
Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists checked the teeth of ancient ape-like creatures from 3.5 million years ago to see what they ate by analyzing chemical traces in their enamel.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists checked the teeth of ancient ape-like creatures from 3.5 million years ago to see what they ate by analyzing chemical traces in their enamel.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Lüdecke T, Leichliter JN, Stratford D, Sigman DM, Vonhof H, Haug GH, Bamford MK, Martínez-García A
Related Content
Claims (7)
Between 1.2 million and a few hundred thousand years ago, early human ancestors like Homo and Neanderthals relied mainly on meat and other animal foods for nutrition, while earlier ancestors like Australopithecus ate mostly plants.
Analysis of carbon isotopes in fossilized teeth from ancient Australopithecus hominins shows they ate mostly plants like trees and shrubs, not grasses, even though grasses were common in their environment.
Analysis of chemical signatures in fossilized teeth from early human ancestors at Sterkfontein shows no signs that they ate meat, even though their brains were getting larger at the same time. This suggests that meat consumption may not have been necessary for brain expansion in early hominins.
Analysis of chemical traces in fossilized teeth shows that Australopithecus ate plants similar to those consumed by herbivorous animals of the same time period, rather than meat like predators.
Dietary patterns inferred from the isotopic data of seven Australopithecus fossils from Sterkfontein cannot be assumed to apply to all Australopithecus or other early human ancestors because the sample is too small and comes from a limited time and place.