The ancestors of humans live by eating grass

(Scientists have been stunned to discover that the very early ancestors of humans existed based on tropical plants, a new study says.

Researchers involved in a new study led by Oxford University found that between three million and 3.5 million years ago, the diet of our very early ancestors in Central Africa It is mostly composed of tropical grasses and sedge plants.

These findings are published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

An international team of researchers studied the information obtained from fossil teeth of three Australopithecus bahrelghazali - the first early hominins excavated in two locations in Chad. Professor Julia Lee-Thorp from Oxford University, together with researchers from Chad, France and the United States, analyzed the ratio of carbon isotopes in teeth and found traces of a rich diet in foods Derived from plants with C4.

Professor Lee-Thorp, an expert in fossil enamel isotope analysis, from the Archaeological Research Laboratory and art history, said: "We have found evidence that the first hominins , at least in Central Africa, there is a diet that consists mainly of tropical grasses and tropical papyrus trees. There are no big chimpanzees of Africa, including gibbons, eating types. This food, despite the fact that it is abundant in tropical and subtropical regions, the only notable exception is the savannah baboon today that still eats these plants. when discovered the first hominins consumed more than the baboons. '

The research paper shows that this finding demonstrates how the first hominins undergo a change in their diet relatively early, at least in Central Africa. This finding is of significant significance in the way that early humans were able to survive in areas with several tree species, instead of just sticking to the types of trees that were rich in greenery. This allows them to move away from the original ancestral forests or denser forests, and dominate, exploit the new environment further, the study said.

Fossils of these three individuals range from three million to 3.5 million years old, originating from two places in the Djurab desert. Today, this is a very arid area located near the ancient Bahr el Ghazal canal. This canal was previously connected to the south and north of the Lake Chad basin. However, in their paper, the authors observed that at the time when Australopithecus bahrelghazali had migrated, the area was able to have reeds and papyrus growing around a network of shallow lakes. , with floodplain and grassy grasslands on the other side.

Previously, many people believed that human ancestors had harder tooth enamel, large grinding teeth and strong jaw muscles, so they could eat foods like hard nuts and nuts. The study's findings show that the diet of early hominins is separated from chimpanzees at a much earlier stage. The authors argue that it is unlikely that hominins have eaten the leaves of tropical grasses when they are too abrasive and difficult to grind and digest. Instead, they argue that these early hominins may have relied on plant roots, onions and tubers at the base of plants.

Professor Lee-Thorp said: "Based on our carbon isotope data, we cannot rule out the possibility that the hominin diet may include tropical herbivores. But no. human beings are not other primates with a diet rich in animal foods, and of course hominins are not equipped with sharp teeth like predators, we can assume that they directly eat tropical grass and papyrus trees'.