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Early human ancestors had more variable diet: Dietary preferences of 3 groups of hominins reconstructed

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international team of scientists has reconstructed the dietary preferences of 3 groups of hominins found in South Africa. The paper, “Evidence for diet but not landscape use in South African early hominins," is a joint effort between the Ecole Normale Supérieure, the Université de Toulouse Paul Sabatier, and the University of the Witwatersrand and has been selected for Advanced Online Publication in the journal Nature. The research sheds more light on the diet and home ranges of the early hominins belonging to three different genera, notably Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Homo, that were discovered at sites such as Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind.  The Cradle of Humankind, about 50 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, has produced a large number of hominid fossils, as well as some of the oldest ever found. Hominin is a fairly new designation, a bit more specific than the older term Hominid.Â

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