On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 17:21, Ken Stuart wrote:

>In 2005, I saw a TV show "Searching for the Ultimate Survivor" on National
>Geographic Channel which was about recent research in human evolution.   One of
>the segments of the show featured Richard Wrangham (whose paper on tubers was
>previously discussed in this group)  ... Any list member who emails me can receive 
>all 3 papers in formatted form (2 in Word including the full version of this one, 
>1 in PDF).

I'd be grateful if you could send me Richard's papers, Ken.

I have occasionally referred to his hypothesis on this list, but the support has been 
underwhelming. You will notice the emphasis on red meat on this list (and red meat 
from cattle at that - a beast not found in Africa) in contrast to the distinct absence 
of interest in tubers, corms, bulbs etc. as staples. If you look back before Homo habilis, 
you will find that the Paranthropus robustus and P. boisei lines, which were to all 
intents vegetarian, died out a little over 1 mya - that is, we are not descended from 
them. So I'd like to see if Wrangham has anything to say about the relevance of a 
tuber-based diet for today's Homo sapiens.

Keith