...a legacy that is set to continue even today.....
In the course of human evolution, the plant-eating hominins had a good reign. From 7 million till 2.5 million years ago, they were the most abundant hominins on the landscape. Paranthropus robustas was the latest of these mostly plant-eating hominins. But changing weather conditions resulting in a savannah-like landscape and less availability of plant foods turned the tide eventually and began to favour meat-eating hominins. Homo erectus with smaller teeth and larger brains would eventually edged out their plant-eating counterparts.
“Paranthropus robustus had large teeth and small brains, differing from Homo erectus which had large brains and small teeth. It is believed the former's diet involved eating mainly tough plants, like tubers and bark.
The scientists said it was possible that a wetter environment caused by climate change may have reduced the food available to them.
Meanwhile Homo erectus, with their smaller teeth, was more likely to have eaten both plants and meat.
While we were the lineage that won out in the end, two million years ago the fossil record suggests that Paranthropus robustus was much more common than Homo erectus on the landscape."
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