Q Rev Biol. 2014 Dec;89(4):319-57. doi: 10.1086/678568.
Beginning with Darwin, some have argued that predation on other vertebrates dates to the earliest stages of hominid evolution, and can explain many uniquely human anatomical and behavioral characters. Other recent workers have focused instead on scavenging, or particular plant foods. Foraging theory suggests that inclusion of any food is influenced by its profitability and distribution within the consumer's habitat. The morphology and likely cognitive abilities of Ardipithecus, Australopithecus, and early Homo suggest that while hunting and scavenging occurred, their profitability generally would have been considerably lower than in extant primates and/or modern human hunter-gatherers. On the other hand, early hominid diet modelers should not focus solely on plant foods, as this overlooks standard functional interpretations of the early hominid dentition, their remarkable demographic success, and the wide range of available food types within their likely day ranges. Any dietary model focusing too narrowly on any one food type or foraging strategy must be viewed with caution. We argue that early hominid diet can best be elucidated by consideration of their entire habitat-specific resource base, and by quantifying the potential profitability and abundance of likely available foods.
从达尔文开始，一些人认为捕食其他脊椎动物可以追溯到人类进化的早期阶段，并可以解释许多独特的人类解剖学和行为特征。其他最近的研究人员则专注于食腐或特定的植物性食物。觅食理论表明，任何食物的包含都受到其在消费者栖息地内的盈利性和分布的影响。阿蒂皮特西斯、南方古猿和早期人类的形态和可能的认知能力表明，虽然存在狩猎和食腐行为，但它们的盈利性通常比现存的灵长类动物和/或现代人类狩猎采集者低得多。另一方面，早期人类饮食模型的制定者不应该仅仅关注植物性食物，因为这忽视了对早期人类牙齿的标准功能解释，也忽视了他们显著的人口成功和在他们可能的活动范围内可获得的各种食物类型。任何过于狭隘地关注任何一种食物类型或觅食策略的饮食模型都必须谨慎看待。我们认为，通过考虑他们整个特定栖息地的资源基础，并通过量化可能获得的食物的潜在盈利性和丰富性，最能阐明早期人类的饮食。
