Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
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Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
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Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#2Fat from marrow and brains to be clear, other articles make that distinction in the title, and do not jump to the fat conclusion in the title.
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#3[deleted]
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#4Fat from marrow and brains to be clear, other articles make that distinction in the title, and do not jump to the fat conclusion in the title.
somewhat related:
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#5Fat from marrow and brains to be clear, other articles make that distinction in the title, and do not jump to the fat conclusion in the title.
And the only reason they went after the marrow and brain was because they were eating the leftovers, according to the article. They couldn't really eat other parts of the animal unless they wanted to become food to other predators.
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#6Wouldn't other animals with strong bites be capable of crushing bones to eat the marrow inside? The theory is big on assumptions, but I guess that's how it goes when you're trying to figure out what happened millions of years ago.
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#7Wouldn't other animals with strong bites be capable of crushing bones to eat the marrow inside? The theory is big on assumptions, but I guess that's how it goes when you're trying to figure out what happened millions of years ago.
I'm imagining that the humans might have taken the bones somewhere else to deal with them, possibly breaking them open with stones.
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#8One of the first human foods was actually bone marrow which is basically pure fat.
This happened about 2MYA by Homo habilis who figured out that you could use rocks to bust open bones.
Lions and Hyenas would leave huge piles of bones in the middle of the dessert which had been picked clean by vultures.
One of our ancestors had the brilliant idea to use a rock to bust open the bones.
Well it's a massive source of free calories. It's absolutely brilliant. It's just sitting there and there are no other predators or species around to fight with at that point.
It's also very safe to eat even days after since the marrow is wrapped in bone.
Next time you're out at a fancy restaurant and they have bone marrow GET IT...
Then realize you're eating one of the first foods that modern man ate and think of the gift he gave us.
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#9Wouldn't other animals with strong bites be capable of crushing bones to eat the marrow inside? The theory is big on assumptions, but I guess that's how it goes when you're trying to figure out what happened millions of years ago.
The article talks about primates but there are similar theories about other brain-and-marrow gastronomes.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/inside-the-brai...
Re: Fat, Not Meat, May Have Led to Bigger Hominin Brains
#10I thought this was known.
When my first born was a toddler, she would go into the fridge and eat butter.
I expressed concern to my grandmother, a life long nurse who was born in 1920 said to me; “the brain knows that it needs fats to grow, just let her eat butter. It is what her body is saying she needs”
She is super smart and it wasnt an issue otherwise.