Ancient ‘hobbits’ Feasted On Komodo Dragons’ Leftovers

An ancient quality ancestor called Homo floresiensis was apt a scavenger who subsisted connected nan scraps near down by nan fearsome Komodo dragons that shared their location connected nan land of Flores successful Indonesia. That’s nan cardinal takeaway from a caller study that challenges erstwhile grounds that suggested these ancient hominins, nicknamed “hobbits” successful a motion to nan J.R.R. Tolkien creatures, could hunt ample prey and commencement fires.

When scientists first discovered H. floresiensis fossils connected Flores, 1 of nan islands that dress up Indonesia, 2 decades ago, they speculated that nan short, small-brained hominins whitethorn person been intimately related to different ancient human, Homo erectus. This was supported by nan bones of an apparently murdered Stegodon, an extinct type of elephant, and burnt remains successful nan cave wherever nan hobbit fossils were found—leading scientists to judge they were capable to hunt and utilized fire.

But nan caller study, published coming successful Science Advances, claims that hobbits did neither of those things.

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Instead nan authors declare that Komodo dragons really ate nan Stegodon, and nan hobbits scavenged connected nan reptiles’ leftovers. To beryllium this, they fed goat carcasses to Komodo dragons astatine a zoo and compared nan wound marks connected those bones to marks recovered connected nan bones of nan Stegodon.

This method of taphonomy—the method word for nan study of what happens to organisms aft death—offers a “smoking weapon of who did what,” says Briana Pobiner, a paleoanthropologist astatine nan Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and a co-author connected nan study.

“It’s a awesome example, successful galore ways, of going backmost to study a fossil assemblage that hadn’t been studied pinch these taphonomic methods successful much detail,” she says. “The much we do this, nan much we’re capable to reply aliases explain aliases overturn immoderate ideas that person been retired location for a while.”

The researchers besides studied astir 4,500 rodent bones recovered successful nan cave and discovered nary burns aliases grounds of fire. The burnt bones that had been discovered alongside nan hobbits, nan authors argue, were apt nan consequence of Homo sapiens using nan cave astatine a later date.

Dean Falk, an anthropology professor astatine Florida State University who was not progressive successful nan research, says nan insubstantial is making a “dramatic claim” astir assumptions wide shared among scholars since nan find of nan species. The expertise of H. florensiensis to hunt and create fire, Falk says, is “what has remained aft these 20-some years, and this insubstantial is coming retired and saying, ‘Wait a minute. Hold on.’”

Falk notes that nan study doesn’t reply each outstanding mobility astir nan hobbits, including whether these ancient humans could person hunted Stegodon without cutting done to nan bone.

“It’s really interesting, and it will make much research,” Falk says.

Although Homo floresiensis is an ancient type of human, it isn’t wholly clear really it relates to our ain species, H. sapiens, aliases to different extinct kinds of humans, specified arsenic Neanderthals. What we do cognize is that successful different parts of nan world, these type existed astatine nan aforesaid time, Pobiner says. H. florensiensis appears to person died retired connected Flores immoderate 50,000 years agone aft nan presence of modern humans connected nan island; astatine that time, Neanderthals and H. sapiens lived alongside each different successful Europe and Asia. (Neanderthals are thought to person gone extinct immoderate 10,000 years later.)

The anticipation that Homo floresiensis evolved otherwise and survived without immoderate of nan cardinal behavioral abilities of modern humans offers a caller position connected nan quality family and our ain origins, Pobiner adds.

“There are long-standing misunderstandings astir quality improvement arsenic being each progressive and that behavioral improvement was linear,” Pobiner says. “This is simply a bully illustration that our family character was not a consecutive line.”