IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v487y2012i7405d10.1038_nature11185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The diet of Australopithecus sediba

Author

Listed:
  • Amanda G. Henry

    (Plant Foods and Hominin Dietary Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany)

  • Peter S. Ungar

    (University of Arkansas, Old Main 330, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA
    The Institute for Human Evolution, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • Benjamin H. Passey

    (Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA)

  • Matt Sponheimer

    (The Institute for Human Evolution, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
    University of Colorado at Boulder, 233 UCB)

  • Lloyd Rossouw

    (National Museum Bloemfontein, PO Box 266, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
    University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa
    University of Washington, Box 351800, 24 Kincaid Hall, Seattle, Washington 98195-1800, USA)

  • Marion Bamford

    (BPI Palaeontology, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • Paul Sandberg

    (University of Colorado at Boulder, 233 UCB)

  • Darryl J. de Ruiter

    (The Institute for Human Evolution, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
    Texas A&M University)

  • Lee Berger

    (The Institute for Human Evolution, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa)

Abstract

Phytolith, stable carbon isotope, and dental microwear texture data for two individuals of Au. sediba, 2-million-year-old hominins from South Africa, show that they consumed a mostly C3 diet that probably included harder foods, and both dicotyledons (for example, tree leaves, fruits, and wood or bark) and monocotyledons (for example, grasses and sedges); this diet contrasts with previously described diets of other early hominin species.

Suggested Citation

  • Amanda G. Henry & Peter S. Ungar & Benjamin H. Passey & Matt Sponheimer & Lloyd Rossouw & Marion Bamford & Paul Sandberg & Darryl J. de Ruiter & Lee Berger, 2012. "The diet of Australopithecus sediba," Nature, Nature, vol. 487(7405), pages 90-93, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:487:y:2012:i:7405:d:10.1038_nature11185
    DOI: 10.1038/nature11185
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11185
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature11185?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:487:y:2012:i:7405:d:10.1038_nature11185. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.