Lucy was a vegetarian and sapiens an omnivore: Plant foods as natural supplements
Early hominid ancestors like the Australopithecines (e.g., Lucy ) were likely strict vegetarians. Meat consumption seems to have occurred at least occasionally among Homo habilis, with more widespread consumption among Homo erectus, and Homo sapiens (i.e., us). The figure below (from: becominghuman.org; click on it to enlarge) shows a depiction of the human lineage, according to a widely accepted theory developed by Ian Tattersall. As you can see, Neanderthals are on a different branch, and are not believed to have been part of the human lineage. Does the clear move toward increased meat consumption mean that a meat-only diet is optimal for you? The answer is “perhaps”; especially if your ancestors were Inuit and you retained their genetic adaptations. Food specialization tends to increase the chances of extinction of a species, because changes in the environment may lead to the elimination of a single food source, or a limited set of food sources. On a scale from highly specialized to...