Mammoth meals helped early tribes thrive

The Times ^ | April 18, 2006 | Mark Henderson

[george76]

REGULAR meals of mammoth meat helped some early human tribes to expand more quickly than their largely vegetarian contemporaries, according to a genetic study.

Human populations in east Asia about 30,000 years ago developed at dramatically different rates, following a pattern that appears to reflect the availability of mammoths and other large game.

In the part of the region covering what is now northern China, Mongolia and southern Siberia, vast plains teemed with mammals such as mammoths, mastodons and woolly rhinoceroses and the number of early human beings grew between 34,000 and 20,000 years ago.

Further south, where the terrain was covered in thick forest, the population expansion began much later - between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago.

Chris Tyler-Smith, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire, who led the research, said: "The only robust explanation for the early success of the northern populations is that they enjoyed a better and richer diet: they thrived on mammoths and other large animals."

A diet rich in mammoth meat would have improved overall nutrition, giving people a ready source of protein and fat that would have been invaluable during the last ice age, Dr Tyler-Smith said.

"The mammoths' value would not just have been for food: they would also have provided materials such as skins and bones for use in clothing, shelter and toolmaking.""

[Dog Gone]

PETA will not be pleased.

[cripplecreek]

Supersize me.

[george76]

Meat Good.

[Donald Meaker]

Perhaps we can convince PETA to go the way of the mammoth, out of solidarity....


Have to put a lot of ketchup on them though...

[george76]

Bad news for PETA, ELF, and ALF.

[Swiss]

I knew this from watching the Flintstones.

[dighton]

Jumbo portions.

[george76]

A mammoth burger or a mammoth, mammoth burger.

[cripplecreek]

MORBO FINDS PETAFREAKS TO BE STRINGY AND BITTER. BRING ME KITTENS!!

[ClearCase_guy]

Looked at slightly differently, it appears that people in the North have a tendency to work hard and maximize the potential use of their surroundings. People in warmer, more Southern areas have a tendency to kick back and take it easy. "Don't worry, be happy."

[george76]

"early human tribes to expand more quickly than their largely vegetarian contemporaries..."

[pissant]

Can you imagine the drumstick?

[KarlInOhio]

Mmmm. I want some ribs.

[RichInOC]

Hold on a minute. I'm just imagining what a mammoth porterhouse would look like.

[Coyoteman]

Vegetarian: Indian word for "bad hunter."

[Alouette]

Oh my. That does look delicious.

[VoiceOfBruck]

Bummer - I was looking for a justification for eating mammoth meals, not meals of mammoth!

[LibKill]

Top of the food chain, Ma!

[garyhope]

I just knew that BBQ and grilling was good for you.

All the vegetarians I know are always sickly and ill more often than me. And they whine a lot too. The poor things are unhappy and in need of a good steak and a glass of red wine.