APEMAN'S DIET
Study In S. Africa
[From the South African Digest] JOHANNEBURG. WHAT the apeman ate when he roamed the Makapan Valley more than a million years ago is being investigated by a Johannesburg botanist, Mr Brian Maguire. To help his- study he is making a survey of the food eaten today by the Kalahari, bushmen. “We believe the eating habits of the primitive Bushmen must closely follow that of the apeman,” said Mr Maguire, "particularly during periods of meat shortage.” Evidence has been unearthed in the fossil-rich Makapan caves that the apeman first lived on antelope flesh —and later on baboons and monkeys. Mr Maguire, assistant to the famous Professor Raymond Dart, is doing a survey of thousands of species of flora in the valley to find what edible fruits and bulbs may have been available for apemen when meat was scarce.
Some have already been found in a part of the valley which has an unusually rich and green growth—unlike the rest of the vegetation—and which may have looked the same a million years ago.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CII, Issue 30158, 15 June 1963, Page 8
Word Count
177APEMAN'S DIET Press, Volume CII, Issue 30158, 15 June 1963, Page 8
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