• acosmichippo@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Homo primates (archaic humans like Homo Erectus) have been hunting prolifically for about 2 million years. That’s part of what makes us Homo; the large calorie surplus from big game hunting allowed our brains to grow larger.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      afaik it’s inconclusive, and just as likely that big game was rare and supplemented by many other forms of hunting and gathering. It’s a lot easier to spear a fish or steal some eggs than to spend a whole day tracking down an elk until it collapsed from exhaustion.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 day ago

      More modern research does not suggest this made up most of the consumption for humans even before agriculture. For instance,

      Our results unequivocally demonstrate a substantial plant-based component in the diets of these hunter-gatherers. This distinct dietary pattern challenges the prevailing notion of high reliance on animal proteins among pre-agricultural human groups

      https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02382-z