ARCH 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Paranthropus Robustus, Paranthropus Boisei, Canine Tooth
26 Aug 2016
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Archaeological and bone chemistry evidence indicate that paranthropus robustus (and likely boisei as well) ate some meat. However, their huge check teeth suggest that they had evolved to depend primarily on some other dietary source. Large cheek bones allowed the passage of large chewing muscles to the jaw and gave p. robustus individuals their characteristically wide, dish-shaped face. A large sagittal crest provided a large area to anchor these chewing muscles to the skull. These adaptations provided p. robustus with the ability of grinding down tough, fibrous foods (smithsonian. However, these results are up to debate, and seem to conflict with other research. Others have argued that p. robustus had a diet of hard gritty foods such as nuts and tubers, reflecting their habitats of open woodland and savanna. Overall, p. robustus" diet probably reflected its diet and environmental conditions. These species lived in regions of africa that were dominated by open savannah grasslands and woodlands.
