Editing Australopithecus (section)

==Diet==
{{Multiple image|align=left|image1=Paranthropus boisei IMG 2933-white.jpg|image2=Australopithecus afarensis Cleveland Museum.jpg|footer=The robust ''[[Paranthropus boisei]]'' (left) vs the gracile ''[[Australopithecus anamensis|A. anamensis]]'' (right)|total_width=400}}

''Australopithecus'' species are thought to have eaten mainly fruit, vegetables, and tubers, and perhaps easy-to-catch animals such as small lizards. Much research has focused on a comparison between the South African species ''A. africanus'' and ''Paranthropus robustus''. Early analyses of [[dental microwear]] in these two species showed, compared to ''P. robustus'', ''A. africanus'' had fewer microwear features and more scratches as opposed to pits on its molar wear facets.<ref name=Grine1988>{{cite journal|author=Grine FE |year=1986 |title=Dental evidence for dietary differences in Australopithecus and Paranthropus – a quantitative-analysis of permanent molar microwear |journal=[[Journal of Human Evolution]] |volume=15 |issue=8| pages=783–822 |doi=10.1016/S0047-2484(86)80010-0 |bibcode=1986JHumE..15..783G }}</ref> Microwear patterns on the cheek teeth of ''A. afarensis'' and ''A. anamensis'' indicate that ''A. afarensis'' predominantly ate fruits and leaves, whereas ''A. anamensis'' included grasses and seeds (in addition to fruits and leaves).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Martínez | first1 = L. | last2 = Estebaranz-Sánchez | first2 = F. | last3 = Galbany | first3 = J. | last4 = Pérez-Pérez | first4 = A. | year = 2016 | title = Testing Dietary Hypotheses of East African Hominines Using Buccal Dental Microwear Data | journal = [[PLOS ONE]] | volume = 11 | issue = 11| pages = 1–25 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0165447 | pmid = 27851745 | pmc = 5112956 | bibcode = 2016PLoSO..1165447M | doi-access = free }}</ref> The thickening of enamel in australopiths may have been a response to eating more ground-bound foods such as tubers, nuts, and cereal grains with gritty dirt and other small particulates which would wear away enamel.  Gracile australopiths had larger incisors, which indicates tearing food was important, perhaps eating scavenged meat. Nonetheless, the wearing patterns on the teeth support a largely herbivorous diet.<ref name="Kay1985" />

In 1992, trace-element studies of the strontium/calcium ratios in robust australopith fossils suggested the possibility of animal consumption, as they did in 1994 using stable carbon isotopic analysis.<ref>{{cite web |author=Billings, Tom |access-date=2007-01-06 |title=Comparative Anatomy and Physiology Brought Up to Date--continued, Part 3B) |url= http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-3b.shtml| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061215105652/http://beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-3b.shtml| archive-date= 15 December 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref> In 2005, fossil animal bones with butchery marks dating to 2.6 million years old were found at the site of [[Gona, Ethiopia]]. This implies meat consumption by at least one of three species of hominins occurring around that time: ''A. africanus'', ''A. garhi'', and/or ''P. aethiopicus''.<ref>{{cite web |author=Nature |title=Evidence for Meat-Eating by Early Humans |url= http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/evidence-for-meat-eating-by-early-humans-103874273 }}</ref> In 2010, fossils of butchered animal bones dated 3.4 million years old were found in Ethiopia, close to regions where australopith fossils were found.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Nature |title=Butchering dinner 3.4 million years ago |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |url= http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100811/full/news.2010.399.html | doi=10.1038/news.2010.399 |year=2010 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, a 2025 study measuring nitrogen isotope ratios in fossilized teeth determined that ''Australopithecus'' was almost entirely vegetarian.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Diet Discovery Reveals That Our Ancestors Were Once Vegetarian |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/a-diet-discovery-reveals-that-our-ancestors-were-once-vegetarian |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Discover Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lüdecke |first=Tina |last2=Leichliter |first2=Jennifer N. |last3=Stratford |first3=Dominic |last4=Sigman |first4=Daniel M. |last5=Vonhof |first5=Hubert |last6=Haug |first6=Gerald H. |last7=Bamford |first7=Marion K. |last8=Martínez-García |first8=Alfredo |date=2025-01-17 |title=Australopithecus at Sterkfontein did not consume substantial mammalian meat |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq7315 |journal=Science |volume=387 |issue=6731 |pages=309–314 |doi=10.1126/science.adq7315|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Robust australopithecines (''Paranthropus'') had larger cheek teeth than gracile australopiths, possibly because robust australopithecines had more tough, fibrous plant material in their diets, whereas gracile australopiths ate more hard and brittle foods.<ref name="Kay1985" /> However, such divergence in chewing adaptations may instead have been a response to fallback food availability. In leaner times, robust and gracile australopithecines may have turned to different low-quality foods (fibrous plants for the former, and hard food for the latter), but in more bountiful times, they had more variable and overlapping diets.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=P. S.|last1=Ungar|first2=F. E.|last2=Grine|first3=M. F.|last3=Teaford|year=2008|title=Dental Microwear and Diet of the Plio-Pleistocene Hominin ''Paranthropus boisei''|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=3|issue=4|page=e2044|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002044|pmc=2315797|pmid=18446200|bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2044U|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Scott2005>{{cite journal|vauthors=Scott RS, Ungar PS, Bergstrom TS, Brown CA, Grine FE, Teaford MF, Walker A |year=2005 |title=Dental microwear texture analysis shows within-species diet variability in fossil hominins |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=436 |issue=7051| pages=693–695 |doi=10.1038/nature03822 |bibcode=2005Natur.436..693S |pmid=16079844|s2cid=4431062 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/15300/files/PAL_E2599.pdf }}</ref> In a 1979 preliminary microwear study of ''Australopithecus'' fossil teeth, anthropologist Alan Walker theorized that robust australopiths ate predominantly fruit ([[frugivory]]).<ref>{{cite news |author=Rensberger |first=Boyce |access-date=11 August 2021 |title=Teeth Show Fruit Was The Staple |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/15/archives/teeth-show-fruit-was-the-staple-no-exceptions-found.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1979-05-15}}</ref>

A study in 2018 found [[non-carious cervical lesions]], caused by [[acid erosion]], on the teeth of ''[[Australopithecus africanus|A. africanus]]'', probably caused by consumption of acidic fruit.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2018-09-01|title=Root grooves on two adjacent anterior teeth of Australopithecus africanus|journal=International Journal of Paleopathology|volume=22|pages=163–167|doi=10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.02.004|issn=1879-9817|last1=Towle|first1=Ian|last2=Irish|first2=Joel D.|last3=Elliott|first3=Marina|last4=De Groote|first4=Isabelle|pmid=30126662|s2cid=52056962|url=http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/8352/1/Root%20groove%20article%20JDI.pdf}}</ref>