Early humans ate hippos, crocodiles, turtles....

Galvasean

Modern humans have one of the most varied diets in the animal kingdom. This trait is not exactly a new one.

A team of researchers that included Johns Hopkins University geologist Naomi Levin has found that early hominids living in what is now northern Kenya ate a wider variety of foods than previously thought, including fish and aquatic animals such as turtles and crocodiles. Rich in protein and nutrients, these foods may have played a key role in the development of a larger, more human-like brain in our early forebears, which some anthropologists believe happened around 2 million years ago, according to the researchers' study.

Full article here.



Related story: Oldest* Human may have been Cannibalistic

Galvasean

Homo heidelbergensis ate the European cave lion (Panthera leo fossilis), a larger relatve of the modern African lion, new evidence has shown. It is unclear whe the they killed the lion themselves or merely scavenged the corpse.
Read more here.

Degsy

Wheras it would be difficult and extremely dangerous to hunt lion with spears,poisoned arrows or deadfall traps could be used.
Certainly Native American indians used heavy deadfalls to kill bear,elk,bobcats and mountain lions.

Capt'n Midnight

Don't forget we used to eat other hominids and ourselves.

And with the exception of Africa where animals evolved with us a lot of the megafauna in other parts of the world went extinct at about the same time we arrived.




Also I find it amazing that Gelada Baboons can actually eat grass !

If we want to use retroviruses to add genes to ourselves ... or it may be as easy as changing our internal flora.

caseyann

With a diet of hippo no wonder death was young in humans :eek:

Very interesting Galvasean:cool: