Don Wiss wrote:
 >... earliy homonids consumed a larger quantity of
> meat in their diets, this can be seen in two very obvious ways.

Hi Don an all. I've not been listening for a while, but the chimps
caught my attention.
I'd like to throw in some thoughts which have ripened in a bunch of
discussions here.

> 1.  Our lower abdonmen.  The chimps rib cage splays out as it nears the
> waist and most chimps look like they have a pot-belly. ..   It's due to needing a large
> digestive tract to draw all of the nutrients out of plant material.

I think Eva's (follow up) points are well reasoned. Particularly the two
legs walking.
I'd like to add, that the long gut is necessary to allow cellulose
breaking bacteria do their work. That's particularly for *hard* plant
material such als leaves (and bark etc). However even gorillas don't
look "big-belly" though they eat mostly leaves.
A shorter processing time (and gut length) is needed to digest
- fruit, tubers, fatty seeds (nuts) and meat.
Could be any of them.
Or better just not beeing *dependant* of cellulose material for some
time (of the year or of evolution).

> 2.  Large brains require large quantities of protean.   In archaic
> Africa the only reliable source of concentrated protean was meat.

I can't see what for a brain could require particularly protein.
Brain is a *energy* consuming organ. And it requires glucose.
Human milk has a much bigger glucose percentage than even the milk of
goat, cow (or any mammal I know of).
Protein *is* a source of glucose. But a lousy one if it comes to amounts
- because of the nitrogen excretion problem (rabbit starvation).
And because of the large amounts necessary (3 lbs/day).
So far I haven't heared of anyone who managed to survive of wild game
out of the arctis for more than a few weeks. Including Ray Audette who
had to throw in (unusual fat) cow material to his rabbits.
Or starchy or fatty plant material.

Whereas tuber eating provides both easy digestibility and easy brain
fuel. I don't see an alternative to the Wrangham approach in this
aspect. Naked with a stick in the savannah.

>  I'm just saying that when humans and chimps
> parted ways on the evolutionary tree, we had to eat a lot more meat to
> grow our huge brains.

... a lot more glucose energy..

Best regards

Amadeus