Early humans ‘ate a vegan diet and swung between trees like monkeys’ 3.6million years ago
EARLY humans had small brains, swung between trees like monkeys and ate a vegan diet millions of years ago.
Scientists in South Africa made the discovery after performing CT scans on an ancient fossil known as "Little Foot".
The collection of bones of the ancestor Australopithecus dates back 3.67million years and is the most complete of its kind in the world.
Experts compared the famous fossil with other fossils from Africa as well as living humans and chimpanzees.
They showed that our ancestors moved their heads differently to modern humans.
The shape of the atlas determines the range of head motions while the size of the arteries passing through the vertebrae to the skull is useful for estimating blood flow supplying the brain.
Alongside this, the overall dimensions and shape of the atlas of Little Foot are similar to living chimpanzees, researchers said.
From the fossil, the team identified that ligament and joints that link the head and neck suggest the ancient human regularly swung from tree to tree.
They said because Little Foot is so well-preserved, blood flow supply to the brain could also be estimated for the first time.
The team believe blood flow was about three times lower than in living humans, and closer to that of chimps.
And that means it is likely Australopithecus had a relatively small brain and ate a low-quality diet with little meat.
Lead author Dr Amelie Beaudet, of Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, said: “The morphology of the first cervical vertebra, or atlas, reflects multiple aspects of an organism’s life.
“In particular, the nearly complete atlas of Little Foot has the potential to provide new insights into the evolution of head mobility and the arterial supply to the brain in the human lineage.”
The research was published in the Scientific Reports Journal.
A timeline of life on Earth
The history of the planet in years...
- 4.6billion years ago – the origin of Earth
- 3.8billion years ago – first life appears on Earth
- 2.1billion years ago – lifeforms made up of multiple cells evolve
- 1.5billion years ago – eukaryotes, which are cells that contain a nucleus inside of their membranes, emerge
- 550million years ago – first arthropods evolve
- 530million years ago – first fish appear
- 470million years ago – first land plants appear
- 380million years ago – forests emerge on Earth
- 370million years ago – first amphibians emerge from the water onto land
- 320million years ago – earliest reptiles evolve
- 230million years ago – dinosaurs evolve
- 200million years ago – mammals appear
- 150million years ago – earliest birds evolve
- 130million years ago – first flowering plants
- 100million years ago – earliest bees
- 55million years ago – hares and rabbits appear
- 30million years ago – first cats evolve
- 20million years ago – great apes evolve
- 7million years ago –first human ancestors appear
- 2million years ago – Homo erectus appears
- 300,000 years ago – Homo sapiens evolves
- 50,000 years ago – Eurasia and Oceania colonised
- 40,000 years ago – Neandethal extinction
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