Did you know that our ancient relatives called Australopithecus lived about 3.5 million years ago? They lived in southern Africa and mostly ate plants! Scientists just discovered this cool fact by studying tiny bits from their teeth! They looked at something called nitrogen isotopes in the tooth enamel of seven Australopithecus fossils. The results showed that these early humans didn’t eat much meat at all.

Eating meat is super important for humans because it helps our brains grow bigger and smarter! But figuring out when our ancestors started munching on meat has been tricky. A team of scientists from Germany and South Africa wanted to find out more about what Australopithecus really ate.

They studied old teeth found in Sterkfontein Cave near Johannesburg, which is famous for having lots of ancient bones. They compared these teeth with samples from animals living at the same time—like monkeys and big cats!

Tooth enamel is really tough and can hold onto information about what someone ate for millions of years! Geochemist Tina Lüdecke led this study and explained how animals digest food. When they eat, they end up with more “heavy” nitrogen than “light” nitrogen in their bodies. So herbivores (plant-eaters) have different nitrogen levels than carnivores (meat-eaters).

When scientists looked at the nitrogen levels in Australopithecus teeth, they found they were low—just like those of plant-eating animals! This means they mostly ate plants and probably didn’t hunt big animals like lions or hyenas did. They might have eaten some bugs or eggs now and then, but mostly veggies!

The researchers want to keep studying other ancient bones to learn more about when our ancestors started eating meat and how it helped them evolve.

This discovery helps us understand how humans changed over millions of years! The study was supported by some cool research programs in Germany.

Image Credit: “Original skull of Mrs. Ples, a female A. africanus”, by Wikimedia Commons, “Sterkfontein Caves” by Wikimedia Commons