There is one other thing not taken into account in the "4% meat" tally of the australopithicus
diet:  insects.  Most primates eat a lot of them, and they sure don't qualify as fruits or
vegetables!  I don't have any faith in that 4% figure.

Lisa in Alaska

> > You don't need fangs and claws to be a meat-eater if you
> > have tools.  "Sussman points out that the first tools didn't appear
> > until two million years ago."  Well, as far as I know the earliest and
> > most primitive stone tools are in fact associated with
> > Australopithecus,
>
> One thing about scientists is they don't like to speculate (unless it
> supports their thesis). Clearly, if Australopithicus was capable of
> making stone tools 2 million years ago, it was capable of making tools
> of other more perishable materials far longer. The process of making
> stone tools does not spring to mind full-formed. And then, of course,
> before making tools started, there had to be a long period of using
> ready made 'tools'. All this pushes back the the time so far that this
> thesis become essentially meaningless.