Vegetarian cavemen died off, meat-eaters lived on?

by ~ The Rebel ~ Posted 2012/08/15 06:55:04

Related Topics: Diet, Family, Scientists, Human, Rights, Brain, News, French, Eating, Meat-eaters, Meat, Anger, Vegetarian, Nature, Died, Animal Rights, Size, Tooth

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In news that’s sure to anger animal rights activists, French paleontologists and evolutionary scientists announced on August 8 that a vegetarian branch of the human family tree went extinct around 1 million years ago.

Our meat-eating ancestors, however, lived on and kept evolving.

The scientists used a laser to determine the ratios of isotopes of various elements in tooth enamel found in early skeletal remains. This, they wrote, can identify “diet and habitat changes.”

While the largely vegetarian species didn’t survive, the less diet-restricted ”Australopithecus africanus” — which developed human-like facial features and a human-size brain cavity — continued to evolve.

Transquesta 2012/08/15 06:56:44

+3
That's 'cuz the meat eaters ate the vegetarians. I understand they tasted just like chicken. :-)
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-Kezzi Evanescence- 2012/09/06 08:58:16

oh blah blah blah I don't care I don't want to eat meat it is manky

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Sew 2012/08/16 08:43:14

+1
Seems plausible. Having a less restrictive diet i.e. one that included meat as well as leafy stuff would make a species more successful having more options especially in lean times. Meats are also pack full of nutrients meaning that for the same weight of meat you could feed more people then with veggies.

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Beat Magnum True Hero 2012/08/15 21:23:17

This is why I laugh at the new fad diet of the week called "The Caveman Diet." Want to eat like a caveman? Starve without a morsel of food for two weeks and then engorge yourself on something you just killed, because you won't be eating again for two more weeks.

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Philo-Publius 2012/08/15 13:29:52

+1
In fairness, 'evolutionary scientists' change their hypotheses more often than they change their socks: This week they admitted they were wrong about Neanderthals – Europeans didn't mix with them after all now, they say. The week or so before they said, “Oops. We were wrong about this savannah thing... we now think humans evolved in forests.” A few weeks before that they recanted Bateman's Principle & etc...

http://www.tgdaily.com/genera...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/r...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/r...

Lasers and isotopes and derived ratios in tooth enamel are very scientific. Conclusions beyond that are speculative, colorable, and tend, from what I've seen at least, not to inspire confidence.

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~ The R... to Philo-P... 2012/08/15 21:26:20

+1
LACK OF MEAT IN YOUR DIET CREATES A VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY

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Ben 2012/08/15 12:37:47

It looks like it's more to do with the restrctiveness of the diet than their vegetarianism. A wholely meat-eating human species would also be unlikely to survive compared to our omniverous Homo sapiens.

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Rob Williams 2012/08/15 07:31:52

Given the number of vegetarian animals that have not become extinct and the number or meat eaters that have then I think that there has to be other reasons why the vegetarian cavemen died out.

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Feria~THEZombieSlayingB!tch... 2012/08/15 07:24:02

+2
I could care less what people choose to put into their mouths as long as they're not telling me what I can or can not eat.

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Transquesta 2012/08/15 06:56:44

+3
That's 'cuz the meat eaters ate the vegetarians. I understand they tasted just like chicken. :-)

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Feria~T... to Transqu... 2012/08/15 07:24:48

+2
Wouldn't human be a red meat though?

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Transqu... to Feria~T... 2012/08/15 07:25:53

+2
Well, those purportedly in the know call it 'long pig.' That suggests to me it's white. :-)

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