CARNIVORAN PALEOGUILDS OF AFRICA - IMPLICATIONS FOR HOMINID FOOD PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES

Tool-using hominids, as carnivorous animals, would have been part of t he various carnivore guilds present in Plio-Pleistocene Africa. Homini d dietary strategies must be understood within the larger context of c arnivore behavior and ecology, as carnivorans could have affected the abilities of hominids to procure meat and/or marrow. The functional an atomy of extant and fossil carnivorans was examined to infer behaviors in fossil carnivorans that would have impacted on hominid dietary str ategies in terms of carcass availability. Comparisons of guild structu re were carried out to examine changes in carnivoran interactions and their implications for hominid behavior. Plio-Pleistocene carnivorans engaged in a wider range of behaviors than modern carnivorans. The sab ertoothed felids Dinofelis and Megantereon probably did not provide mu ch larger carcasses than modem species. Another sabertooth, Homotheriu m generated larger carcasses, but may have disarticulated and transpor ted these carcasses. Fossil representatives of modern taxa may not hav e been equivalent ecologically within the carnivoran guild. Overall, h ominids in eastern Africa probably had a greater range of scavenging o pportunities than did those of southern Africa during the Plio-Pleisto cene., Local and continent-wide extinction events in large-bodied carn ivoran guilds from 1 to 2 Ma had a substantial effect on carcass avail ability and the risk to hominid scavengers. These structural changes i n the carnivore guild may have provided an opportunity for hominids to widen their niche with respect to dietary behavior. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.