Early Humans Were Likely Prey for Leopards, New Research Suggests

Around 2 million years ago, prehistoric humans in east Africa faced a notable shift in their relationship with carnivores. While previously terrorized by predators, they began to defend themselves and even steal kills, ultimately rising to the top of the food chain. Traditionally, the species Homo habilis has been credited with this advancement, but new research indicates this extinct hominin may have been more often prey than predator.

Considered by many anthropologists to be the first truly human species, H. habilis is believed to have created the earliest stone tools – known as the Oldowan Toolkit – in TanzaniaS Olduvai Gorge. Evidence from the same region suggests prehistoric hominins began scavenging and butchering the carcasses of animals killed by big cats and other predators.

This led to the theory that H.habilis developed the ability to defend itself from carnivores and outsmart them to consume their kills. In contrast, earlier hominins like Paranthropus and the Australopithecines are known to have been preyed upon by leopards, lions, and other large felids.

To investigate this further, researchers re-analyzed the remains of two H. habilis individuals from Olduvai Gorge – including the 1.85-million-year-old holotype specimen that defines the species’ morphology – both of which exhibit animal bite marks. Previous interpretations suggested these marks were from hyenas scavenging on corpses.

However, utilizing artificial intelligence, the study authors assigned the tooth marks to leopards with greater than 90 percent probability. This suggests the two H. habilis specimens were, in fact, hunted by these big cats.