New study suggests homo habilis were not master predators and were hunted by leopards around 2 million years ago

Homo habilis may not have been the "king" of the forest, according to a new study published in the journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The study focuses on evidence that reveals that Homo habilis was hunted by leopards. If the claim is true, then that means Homo habilis was not the master predator, as past studies claimed it to be. This insight is crucial in figuring out how modern humans came to dominate the landscape in the future.

The Study Challenges Past Views

Past evaluations suggest that prehistoric humans in East Africa became predators two million years ago, according to IFLScience. They became the topmost members of the food chain. Homo habilis has long been credited as the species that took this leap in the food chain, advancing from being a prey to a predator. The claim was supported by the fact that the earliest stone tools, the Oldowan Toolkit, were associated with this hominin species. Alongside the tools, the experts also detected carcasses of animals, supposedly butchered after their death. However, the investigation of Homo habilis from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, paints a different picture. The results showcase that this group may not have achieved complete domination over certain carnivorous beings. 

Target of Leopards

Based on the evidence, such as carcasses and stone tools, experts had previously assumed that Homo habilis could defend themselves against carnivores and also outsmart them to the point of taking away their prey. Researchers believe Homo habilis was the first group of hominins to manage this feat, as clear evidence of earlier hominin species, like Paranthropus and the Australopithecines, being devoured by creatures like lions and leopards, has been detected. Two Homo habilis individuals examined in the study included a 1.85-million-year-old holotype specimen. Further analysis revealed bite marks on both individuals. Before this study, researchers believed that the bite marks were a consequence of hyenas scavenging on the corpses. The team used artificial intelligence (AI), which linked the bite marks to leopards with a 90% likelihood. 

Further Insights from the Findings

After looking into the features of the bite marks, experts concluded that leopards possibly preyed on both of these individuals. "If we take both individuals as random representatives of the larger H. habilis population that lived at Olduvai, their convergent signal of having been preyed on by leopards would indicate the inability of this taxon to cope with the predation risks of a medium-sized carnivore like a leopard," researchers wrote. It implies that the group was unable to assert dominance over their carnivorous peers and was still prey rather than a predator. Furthermore, both of these specimens were seemingly hunted the same way as Australopithecines. 

Study author Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo believes the evidence dethrones Homo habilis as the first conqueror of the trophic pyramid. Then, which group of prehistoric humans managed to turn the tables two million years ago? Researchers think it was Homo erectus that lived around the same time, and was more adapted to life on land than in trees. They may have had the ability to overpower predators and take over their position in the food chain.