{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T20:31:32Z","timestamp":1791923492257,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":76,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"1619","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2007,5,1]],"date-time":"2007-05-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1177977600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/royalsociety.org\/journals\/ethics-policies\/data-sharing-mining\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Proc. R. Soc. B."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,7,22]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The diets of<jats:italic>Australopithecus africanus<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Paranthropus robustus<\/jats:italic>are hypothesized to have included C<jats:sub>4<\/jats:sub>plants, such as tropical grasses and sedges, or the tissues of animals which themselves consumed C<jats:sub>4<\/jats:sub>plants. Yet inferences based on the craniodental morphology of<jats:italic>A. africanus<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>P. robustus<\/jats:italic>indicate a seasonal diet governed by hard, brittle foods. Such mechanical characteristics are incompatible with a diet of grasses or uncooked meat, which are too tough for efficient mastication by flat, low-cusped molars. This discrepancy, termed the C<jats:sub>4<\/jats:sub>conundrum, has led to the speculation that C<jats:sub>4<\/jats:sub>plant underground storage organs (USOs) were a source of nutrition for hominin species. We test this hypothesis by examining the isotopic ecology of African mole rats, which consume USOs extensively. We measured<jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>18<\/jats:sup>O and<jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C of enamel and bone apatite from fossil and modern species distributed across a range of habitats. We show that<jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>18<\/jats:sup>O values vary little and that<jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C values vary along the C<jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>to C<jats:sub>4<\/jats:sub>\/CAM-vegetative axis. Relatively high<jats:italic>\u03b4<\/jats:italic><jats:sup>13<\/jats:sup>C values exist in modern<jats:italic>Cryptomys hottentotus natalensis<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Cryptomys<\/jats:italic>spp. recovered from hominin-bearing deposits. These values overlap those reported for<jats:italic>A. africanus<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>P. robustus<\/jats:italic>and we conclude that the USO hypothesis for hominin diets retains certain plausibility.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2007.0330","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,5,3]],"date-time":"2007-05-03T15:56:05Z","timestamp":1178207765000},"page":"1723-1730","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":64,"title":["The isotopic ecology of African mole rats informs hypotheses on the evolution of human diet"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"274","author":[{"given":"Justin D","family":"Yeakel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anthropology, University of California1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nigel C","family":"Bennett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of PretoriaPretoria 0002, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul L","family":"Koch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, University of California1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nathaniel J","family":"Dominy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anthropology, University of California1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2007,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7998.1993.tb01927.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1006\/jhev.2001.0483"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0016-7037(90)90246-H"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.98.4.1358"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7998.1995.tb04487.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_2_7_1","unstructured":"Bowen G. 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