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The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Diet of Paranthropus boisei in the early Pleistocene of East Africa

Open access
Cerling, Thure E., Mbua, Emma, Kirera, Francis M., Manthi, Fredrick Kyalo, Grine, Frederick E., Leakey, Meave G., Sponheimer, Matt, Uno, Kevin T.·2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The East African hominin Paranthropus boisei was characterized by a suite of craniodental features that have been widely interpreted as adaptations to a diet that consisted of hard objects that required powerful peak masticatory loads. These morphological adaptations represent the culmination of an evolutionary trend that began in earlier taxa such as Australopithecus afarensis , and presumably facilitated utilization of open habitats in the Plio-Pleistocene. Here, we use stable isotopes to show that P. boisei had a diet that was dominated by C 4 biomass such as grasses or sedges. Its diet included more C 4 biomass than any other hominin studied to date, including its congener Paranthropus robustus from South Africa. These results, coupled with recent evidence from dental microwear, may indicate that the remarkable craniodental morphology of this taxon represents an adaptation for processing large quantities of low-quality vegetation rather than hard objects.

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Metadata

Authors
Cerling, T. E., Mbua, E., Kirera, F. M., Manthi, F. K., Grine, F. E., Leakey, M. G., Sponheimer, M., & Uno, K. T.
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2011-05-02
Volume
108
Issue
23
Pages
9337-9341
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2150993468
Cited by
316
References
51
FWCI
136.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Diet of Paranthropus boisei in the early Pleistocene of East Africa. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1073/pnas.1104627108
The paper
Cerling, T. E., Mbua, E., Kirera, F. M., Manthi, F. K., Grine, F. E., Leakey, M. G., Sponheimer, M., & Uno, K. T. (2011). Diet of Paranthropus boisei in the early Pleistocene of East Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1104627108

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