Study: Ancient 'Nutcracker Man' really ate grass

Associated Press ^ | May 2, 2011 | RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

[decimon]

WASHINGTON – Nutcracker Man didn't eat nuts after all.

After a half-century of referring to an ancient pre-human as "Nutcracker Man" because of his large teeth and powerful jaw, scientists now conclude that he actually chewed grasses instead.

The study "reminds us that in paleontology, things are not always as they seem," commented Peter S. Ungar, chairman of anthropology at the University of Arkansas.

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It turns out that the early human known as Paranthropus boisei did not eat nuts but dined more heavily on grasses than any other human ancestor or human relative studied to date. Only an extinct species of grass-eating baboon ate more, they said.

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[decimon]

No nuts ping.

[Sacajaweau]

Wheat, rye, dandelions, clover, parsley and I’m sure they had nuts and berries and root plants and MEAT!! I don’t think we have ever found a society that did not eat meat.

[decimon]

Paranthropus boisei reconstruction

Photographed at Westfälisches Museum für Archäologie, Herne

Photographed by User:Lillyundfreya

[decimon]

I don’t think we have ever found a society that did not eat meat.

I think there's one in Santa Barbara.

[Paisan]

shoulda been smokin it instead...

[BenLurkin]

“That’s NOT a man, baby!”

[razorback-bert]

Now that we are civilized, we smoke grass.

[wendy1946]

You seem to have misspelled the word “ape”; that thing in the picture might be a “nutcracker ape”, but he’s no relative of ours.

[Little Bill]

I had a guy in my squad that could have been his Brother, one of Johnston's 100k.

[decimon]

Who is Johnston?

[Little Bill]

LBJ, hated the man so much that I never learned to spell his name, socialist scum.

[count-your-change]

“Tofu Man”!! You can hear him saying, “Is that organic?”

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I suspect that this is not true, just wishful thinking, for several reasons.

To start with, primitive grasses have very little energy compared to cellulose, which is only digestible among larger animals, by ruminants, that have multiple stomachs, and specialized bacteria to help break it down.

It does not dominate the diet of other animals, such as gorillas, that eat a wide selection of foods. And they prefer more complex grasses, like bamboo and cane, with a higher energy content. Otherwise they eat grubs, broad leafed plants and fruits, and whatever else is handy.

[SunkenCiv]

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[TaMoDee]

I was in the Regular Army at that time. We called the “100K’s” —— “McNamara’s Idiots”.

[TaMoDee]

I was in the Regular Army at that time. We called the “100K’s” —— “McNamara’s Idiots”.

[Bernard Marx]

I think there's one in Santa Barbara.

West L.A., too, if you don't count THAT.

[Walkingfeather]

Like.

[bert]

The next grad student to study the baboon will be able to hypothesize that the baboon thought to eat grass actually ate nuts.