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‘Ancient Bipedal Hominid Dubbed ‘Nutcracker Man’ Preferred Grass to Nuts’

By Guest PostMay 3, 2011Scienceafrican landscape, ancestors of humans, bipedal hominid, c3 photosynthetic, c4 photosynthetic pathway, carbon isotopes, emma mbua, hard fruit, hominid, huge molars, matt sponheimer, meave leakey, northern kenya, nutcracker man, nuts, paranthropus, paranthropus boisei, powerful jaws, savannah grasses, seeds, teeth, thure cerling, tropical environments, university of colorado boulder, zebras

An ancient, bipedal hominid sporting a set of powerful jaws and huge molars that earned it the nickname “Nutcracker Man” likely didn’t crack nuts at all, preferring instead to slurp up vast quantities of grasses and sedges, says a new study.

The hominid, known as Paranthropus boisei, ranged across the African landscape more than 1 million years ago and lived side-by-side with direct ancestors of humans, said University of Colorado Boulder anthropology Professor Matt Sponheimer, a study co-author. It was long assumed Paranthropus boisei favored nuts, seeds and hard fruit because of its huge jaws, powerful jaw muscles and the biggest and flattest molars of any known hominid in the anthropological record, he said. (more…)

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Six Million Years of African Savanna

‘Ancient Bipedal Hominid Dubbed ‘Nutcracker Man’ Preferred Grass to Nuts’