Category: Hunting

Study: Early humans loved to eat brains

On By A.P.In Africa, antelope, brain, early human, gazelle, hominid, hominid hunting, Hunting, Kenya, Nature, wildebeest1 Comment

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Early members of the human family enjoyed digging into the heads of antelope and wildebeests.

Sets of animal bones recently unearthed in Kenya, believed to be the earliest evidence of hominid hunting, show previous members of the human family enjoyed digging into the heads of antelope and wildebeests, as well as snacking on gazelle meat.

They knew a thing or two about butchery, too, cutting the animals into parts before selecting the meatiest bones.

Scientists also have found a disproportionate number of animal skulls in the area, suggesting our ancestors scavenged the untouched heads from carcasses left behind by big cats after their own meals.

Dents inside the skulls indicate they dug in with stones to get at the delicious, juicy brains inside. According to a study of the findings, this nutrient-rich brain tissue may have helped homo erectus support larger bodies, bigger brains, and travel longer distances.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/05/evolution-early-humans-ate-brains/2136493/

Did Neanderthals go extinct because they couldn’t learn to catch rabbits?

On By A.P.In Bunny, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, extinction, France, human, Hunting, John Fa, Nature, Neanderthal, New Scientist, rabbit, Science, SpainLeave a comment

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Neanderthals became extinct as they were unable to adapt their hunting skills to catch small animals like rabbits, a new study has claimed.

For the study, John Fa of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Trinity, Jersey, and his colleagues counted skeletons of animals that were found in three excavation sites in Spain and southern France.

The team found that up until 30,000 years ago, the skeletons of larger animals like deer were plentiful in caves.

But around the same time, coinciding with Neanderthals’ disappearance, rabbit skeletons became more abundant.

The team postulated that humans succeeded far more at switching to capturing and eating rabbits than Neanderthals, New Scientist reported.

Fa said that it is still not clear as to why Neanderthals had trouble changing their prey.

He said that maybe the Neanderthals may have been less able to cooperate and rather than using spears, early humans probably surrounded a warren and flushed out rabbits with fire, smoke or dogs.

http://www.phenomenica.com/2013/03/inability-to-catch-rabbits-may-have-led-to-demise-of-neanderthals.html