Sculpture: Elisabeth Daynes/Photograph: S. Entressangle
Australopithecus sediba
A new research analyzed the nail polish of Australopithecus fossil teeth and concluded that our ancestors consumed little animal protein.
A new published in Science analyzed the fossil teeth enamel of Australopithecus found in the Sterkfontein caves in South Africa, and concluded that these first hominids consumed a major diet based on plants.
The findings provide innovative information about Australopithecus eating habits, an ancestor of ours that lived millions of years ago.
The nail polish of the tooth, the hardest fabric of the body of mammals, preserves the isotopic signatures of the diet of an animal for millions of years. The team used an advanced technique developed at the Max Planck Institute to measure the proportions of nitrogen isotopes in fossilized enamel, a method that widens studies on diet far beyond the tens of thousands of traditionally possible years, explains.
Os Fitting isotopes They are key indicators of the position of an organism in the food chain. Higher proportions of the harass -heavy nitrogen isotope (15N) suggest higher trophic levels typical of carnivores. On the other hand, herbivores have lower ratios from 15N to 14N.
Analyze Australopithecus enamel and compare it with contemporary animals such as monkeys and large predators have consistently revealed low proportions of nitrogen isotopes in the teeth of Australopithecus, comparable to herbivores.
The study concluded that Australopithecus mainly consumed plants, with little or no regular consumption of animal protein. Although researchers recognized the possibility of Occasional egg consumptionthere is no evidence of hunting large mammals. This plant -based diet contrasts with that of later hominids, such as neanderthals, which consumed a lot of meat.
The results contribute to a wider understanding of the first human diets and their evolutionary impact. “This method opens interesting possibilities for Understand human evolution”Said Alfredo Martínez-García, co-development of the enamel analysis technique.
Researchers plan to expand their study to include other species of hominids and places in Africa and Asia to explore when meat consumption began and if he played a role in brain development.
