Australopithecus sediba, believed to be an early relative of modern-day humans, enjoyed a diet of leaves, fruits, nuts, and bark, which meant they probably lived in a more wooded environment than is generally thought, a surprising find published in the current issue of Nature magazine by an international team of researchers that includes a Texas A&M University anthropologist¹. Darryl de Ruiter, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology², says the new findings are in contrast to previously³ documented diets of other hominin species and suggests that Australopithecus sediba had a different living environment than other hominins（人族） in the region. Previous research had shown that the australopiths of South Africa lived in the vicinity of（在……附近） grassy⁴ and open savannah-like areas, though it was unclear whether they actually occupied a savannah habitat, or if they lived in forested margins⁵ near the grasslands⁶.

The team examined teeth from skeletal remains⁷ of a group of newly discovered hominins found several years ago in a South African cave about 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg and dated to about 1.98 million years old. The team, composed of researchers from the United States, Africa, Europe and Australia, named the new species Australopithecus sediba and demonstrated that it displayed a mosaic⁸ of both human-like and ape-like characteristics shared both with other forms of Australopithecus and with modern-day humans.

"By examining material recovered from their teeth using diverse（不同的） tools ranging from dental picks and laser ablation devices, we were able to determine precisely⁹ what they were eating," de Ruiter explains.

"This gives us a very clear picture of their diet, and it was surprising. It shows that they ate more fruits and leaves than any other hominin fossil ever examined, more like what a chimp¹⁰ might eat. There was no evidence of them eating native grasses of the area at that time, which is what we see in other australopiths in the region."

Australopithecus is a genus of hominins that is now extinct. Ape-like in structure, yet walking bipedally similar to modern humans, they are considered to have played a significant role in human evolution, and it is generally held among anthropologists that a form of Australopithecus eventually evolved into modern humans.

The Texas A&M anthropologist（人类学家） says the analysis of phytoliths -- structures found in plants that often get trapped in plaque¹¹ on teeth -- alongside examination of the chemical makeup¹² of the hominin teeth, suggests that they had a varied¹³ diet, and diet of early Australopithecus is a key component¹⁴ central to the study of human origins.