Page "Paranthropus" Paragraph 21

In 2011 Thure E. Cerling of the University of Utah and colleagues, published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of their work with the carbon in the enamel of 24 teeth from 22 Paranthropus individuals who lived in East Africa between 1. 4 million and 1. 9 million years ago.

One type of carbon is produced from tree leaves, nuts and fruit, another from grasses and grasslike plants called sedges.

Their results reveal that Paranthropus boisei contrary to previous theories, did not eat nuts but dined more heavily on C4 plants than any other human ancestor or human relative studied to date.

Only an extinct species of grass-eating baboon ate more.

One of the co-authors of the paper is Meave Leakey, the daughter-in-law of Mary and Louis Leakey.