Bunnies implicated in the demise of Neanderthals

BLAME it on the bunnies. The debate over what Neanderthals ate, and how it may have led to their demise, has turned to rabbits. Which, it is now claimed, Neanderthals did not feast on.

Signs that our extinct cousins hunted dolphins and seals were presented in 2008 as evidence of their sophistication. But, experts claimed in 2009, they weren't clever enough to catch fish or birds ? which could have given our ancestors an edge. Then came the discovery of fish scales and feathers on Neanderthal tools.

Now, John Fa of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Trinity, Jersey, says Neanderthals eventually bit the dust because they were unable to adapt their hunting to small animals like rabbits.

Fa and his colleagues counted up the skeletons of animals found in three excavation sites in Spain and southern France. Up until 30,000 years ago, the remains of large animals such as deer were abundant in caves. But around that time, coinciding with the disappearance of Neanderthals, rabbit remains became more prevalent. The authors postulate that humans were more successful at switching to catching and eating rabbits.

It's not clear why Neanderthals would have had more trouble changing prey, says Fa. They may have been less able to cooperate. Rather than using spears, early humans probably surrounded a warren and flushed out rabbits with fire, smoke or dogs. But Bruce Hardy of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, says Fa takes the interpretation too far. Humans may have eaten more rabbits than Neanderthals, but neither would have exclusively eaten meat, he says.

The question might be settled by what Fa says is his next project: studying the isotopes in the bones of hominins from this region, which may differ according to what they ate.

Journal reference: Journal of Human Evolution, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.01.002

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