How did the australopithecines find food given that they had no natural adaptations for hunting, no tools and (in the case of the gracile form) teeth unadapted for a vegetarian diet? Their cats fed them. Anyone who has owned modern cats know that there is nothing cats love more then to bring presents of food home to their masters. Based on the amount of mice, birds, lizards, toads, frogs and large insects that my cats bring me, I first developed my theory regarding the early (4 million years before present) domestication of the ancestors of the African wild cat. Australopithecines massed from 29 to 45 Kg. They would have required about 1000 to 2000 calories per day. A nice juicy mouse has between 200 and 400 calories. So at worse case, an australopithecine would need ten mice or their equivalent each day. As a cat, in a mouse (or prey equivalent) rich environment, can easily catch far more then they can eat, it would not take many cats to support an australopithecine. Five cats per hominine, each bringing in an average of two extra mice (or prey equivalent) each day, together with what little the hominine could find for itself, would easily support an australopithecine.

Based on the above points, it seems clear that the best way for australopithecines to have fed themselves was not by hunting, not by scavenging carnivore kills, not by gathering plant food, but by having their pet cats bring them small game.

Copyright © Lorenzo L. Love
August 8, 1998