Homo habilis

 New research suggests that early human ancestors like Homo habilis were not predators but rather preyed on by leopards. The study, using artificial intelligence, has led scientists to this conclusion. The new study is rewriting the history of ancient human ancestors. Homo habilis is portrayed as the first human species to move from prey to predator and climb to the top of the food chain. But a new study challenges this belief. Homo habilis was actually eaten by leopards. The new study places Homo habilis more as prey than as predators. 

Researchers at the University of Alcalá in Spain used artificial intelligence and computer vision to analyze tiny tooth marks from two Homo habilis fossils.  The fossil remains were found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, which is about 2 million years old. 

The researchers trained the AI ​​model on a library of 1,496 images of tooth marks from modern carnivores, including leopards, lions, crocodiles, wolves, and hyenas. After training on it, they presented the AI ​​with photos of the fossil tooth marks. 

The AI ​​compared these tooth marks and found that the AI ​​had a 90% chance of making them leopards. One reason for this is the triangular shape of the tooth pits on the bones, which matches those found in leopard reference samples. 

 The researchers wrote in their paper that """The implications of this are significant, as it suggests that Homo habilis was still a predator rather than a hunter."""It also suggests that the trophic position of some of the earliest representatives of the genus Homo was not different from that of other Australopithecines.""

The fact that leopards were bitten by carnivorous predators suggests that they were actively preyed upon. The rise to the top of the food chain may have occurred sometime later in human evolution. 

The study was published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. ( Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences ).