International attention was drawn in 2012 to research that suggested the possibility that an early human ancestor had lived on hard foods such as leaves and tree bark. 

However this has been contradicted by an international team led by UNE researchers whose study focuses on the Australopithecus sediba, a very small pre-human species that lived in southern Africa more than two million years ago. 

These studies reveal the Australopithecus sediba had adaptations in their face, teeth and jaws that could not chew hard foods, but could instead process foods that were difficult to break down.

“A sediba had an important limitation on its ability to bite powerfully; if it had bitten as hard as possible on its molar teeth using the full force of its chewing muscles, it would have dislocated its jaw,” lead researcher Justin Ledogar said. 

Dr Ledogar also said Australopithecus sediba was a close relative or possible ancestor to Homo, the group to which our species of humans belongs.