Brains needed for peeling fruit could be the key to rise of mankind

Eating fruit that can be tricky to peel may have helped our ancestors grow big brains, scientists believe.

A new study has found that diet may be more important to brain evolution than being sociable.

Scientists came to the conclusion after looking at food consumption and behaviour in more than 140 primates.

Those including fruit in their diets had significantly larger brains than “folivores” that only ate leaves.

Having to cope with hardto-peel fruit may be one factor that drove the expansion of brain size, say the researchers. 0 James Higham says diet was related to bigger brains

Lead scientist Alex Decasien, from New York University in the US, said: “Fruit is patchier in space and time in the environment, and the consumption of it often involves extraction from difficult-toreach-places or protective skins.

“Together, these factors may lead to the need for relatively greater cognitive complexity and flexibility in frugivorous species.”

The findings, reported in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, challenge the widely held view that socialisation was primarily responsible for humans having big brains.

Study co-author Dr James Higham, from New York University’s department of anthropology, said: “This has come to be the prevailing view, but our findings do not support it, in fact, our research points to other factors, namely diet.”