Meet Paranthropus robustus 👋 Lived 2.3-1 million years ago. Just 1.3m tall with massive jaws, half-sized brains. Ate tough fibrous plants, dug for tubers and underground resources at Drimolen, South Africa. A distant cousin of humans, not a direct ancestor. 🦴
Paranthropus robustus: anatomy, diet and tool use
South AfricaBioarchaeology
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Key facts
- Paranthropus lived between 2.3 and 1 million years ago
- Males were approximately 1.3 m tall, females approximately 1 m tall
- They had mega dentition with huge jaws and broad teeth
- Cranial capacity was about 450 ml, about half the size of contemporary humans
- Males had a sagittal crest running along the middle of their skull
- They likely ate tough fibrous diet including grasses, leaves and sedges
- Bone tools found at Drimolen in South Africa suggest they dug for termites
- They lived for over a million years across Eastern and Southern Africa
- They were likely a distant cousin of humans, not a direct ancestor
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