Study of ancient predators sheds light on how humans did -- or didn't -
- find food

Date:
May 3, 2022
Source:
Rice University
Summary:
A new analysis of the remains of ancient predators reveals new
information about how prehistoric humans did -- or didn't --
find their food.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new Rice University-led analysis of the remains of ancient predators
reveals new information about how prehistoric humans did -- or didn't --
find their food.


========================================================================== "Sabertooth carcass consumption behavior and the dynamics of Pleistocene
large carnivoran guilds" was published today in the Nature Scientific
Reports.

For more than three decades, archaeologists thought that one potential
source of meat -- crucial for the development of the early human brain --
was the flesh abandoned from sabertooth cat kills. Until very recently, researchers thought that prehistoric humans stripped flesh from abandoned animal carcasses to consume, but these ancient remains suggest that
was not the case. The new research, conducted on fossil remains from
1.5 million years ago, reveals that sabertooth cats fully devoured the
flesh of their prey and even consumed some bones.

These iconic predators, named for their enormous upper canines, roamed
the landscapes of Africa, Eurasia and the Americas from the Miocene to the
late Pleistocene. Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, a visiting professor of anthropology at Rice and the study's first author, was able to determine together with his colleagues the eating habits of these prehistoric cats
based on their skeletons and those of their prey.

The finding is important, Domínguez-Rodrigo said, because it
means that early humans relied on different ways of finding sources of
protein. It provides more support to the idea that early humans were
already successful hunters.

Domínguez-Rodrigo said the research helps further this area of
study as it eliminates a source of this important type of food for
ancient humans.

However, he said, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about
how prehistoric humans hunted and gathered food, and these topics will
be the focus of future work.

Co-authors of the study included Charles Egeland from the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro; Lucía Cobo-Sánchez from Ko"ln University in Germany; Enrique Baquedano from Museo Arqueológico
Regional de Alcalá de Henares in Madrid, Spain; and Richard Hulbert
from the Florida Museum of Natural History.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Rice_University. Original written
by Amy McCaig. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Manuel Domi'nguez-Rodrigo, Charles P. Egeland, Luci'a Cobo-Sa'nchez,
Enrique Baquedano, Richard C. Hulbert. Sabertooth carcass
consumption behavior and the dynamics of Pleistocene large
carnivoran guilds.

Scientific Reports, 2022; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09480-7 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220503190203.htm

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