Early Humans Weren’t Apex Predators After All. They Were Eaten by Leopards

For decades, Homo habilis, one of our early ancestors, walked with the confidence of a creature that felt like it was hot s**t. With stone tools in hand, this early hominin was believed to be the first of our ancestors to go entirely carnivorous. They sliced up and devoured meat nearly 2 million years ago, solidifying its role as a bona fide predator.

Using an AI research tool, some researchers have found that Homo habilis may not have been as capable and powerful as previously thought. In fact, they might have been regularly eaten by leopards. Yikes.

Researchers from the University of Alcalá, publishing their work in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, dusted off some long-forgotten H. habilis fossils from Olduvai Gorge. That’s the Tanzanian dig site from which came a good d