Leopards ate the faces of our ancient human ancestors, AI analysis reveals

Almost two million years ago, leopards likely hunted and feasted East African human ancestors, new research finds.

Using an artificial intelligence (AI) analysis tool, this study provides insight into the end of two prehistoric individuals from Archaic Human Species Homo Habilis, one of the earliest members of the genus HOMO.

In previous studies, H. Habilis suggests that it is likely that it was sometimes preyed by large carnivorous animals such as large cats and crocodiles, as shown by evidence like dental marks found in some specimens. However, it has often been difficult to assign predation events to a particular species using traditional methods such as physical examinations. As a result, many studies have tended to stop rigorously identifying the predator species involved.

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However, with the help of AI, the New York Academy of Sciences journal Annals of the Carnivore was published on September 16th in the Carnivore responsible for acquiring unfortunate H. Habilis individuals.

“AI has opened the door to new understanding,” the study of Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, a prehistoric professor at Alcala University in Spain and a visiting professor of anthropology at Rice University in Texas, said in a statement.

In a new study, Domínguez-Rodrigo and colleagues analyzed two H. Habilis specimens. Boys (OH 7) and adults (known as OH 65) about 1.85 million years ago and 1.8 million years ago, respectively. Both specimens were discovered decades ago at the All-Bai Valley site in Tanzania.

“We chose these two fossils because they are the most clearly identified as H. habilis and perhaps the best preserved specimen,” Domínguez-Rodrigo told Live Science in an email.

The team conducted a preliminary survey of OH 7 and OH 65 specimens to identify carnivorous teeth marks in the upper jaw of the adult and the lower jaw of the boys. The team then applied AI tools to analyze these tooth marks.

Using AI technology to identify items via images, researchers have trained deep learning models with hundreds of examples of bone markings produced by modern carnivorous animals such as hyenas, crocodiles and leopards. According to Domínguez-Rodrigo, in blind tests, the best of these models was more than 90% accurate in correctly identifying which animals produced the mark.

By applying this system to analyze OH 7 and OH 65, the study reported that with high confidence the bite marks were made by leopards.

The conclusion that these H. habilis individuals are more likely to have been preyed and consumed by leopards rather than simply being attacked or bitten by leopards, is supported by some evidence.

“The fact that very few skeletons have survived indicates a high degree of devastation,” Dominguez Rodrigo said. “If another carnivore had access to Habilis before the leopard, the latter would have been uninterested, as the latter would only eat meat,” he said, adding that in such a scenario, the first predator would have not survived in a body of this size after finishing with a meal.

“I know that you’ll reach the inside of your lower jaw. [lower jaw] Domínguez-Rodrigo had to first remove a considerable amount of flesh and tongue, breaking the corpus of the OH7 (as the leopard did).