Researchers at Rice University used AI to analyze bite marks on the fossils of an early human species called Homo habilis, which lived two million years ago, to determine which animals were their primary predators, according to a paper published in the academic journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The team trained computer vision models to analyze patterns in the fossils too small for the naked eye, finding that leopards were the primary predator.
The results challenge the view that Homo habilis was an emerging top predator due to their adopting stone tool-making and eating meat. Despite these advances, the study supports the theory that predators were still a serious threat, and humans wouldn’t reach the top of the food chain until a later evolutionary stage.