Joel A. Bartsch, a historian and natural scientist from Houston, Texas, has spent 39 years involved in the discipline, including his current position with the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Before his career in natural sciences, Joel Bartsch attended Rice University, where he studied history and the history of science.
In May 2022, researchers published information that eliminated saber tooth cats as a source of protein in humans. The research was published on May 2 in an issue of Nature Scientific Reports, and it focused on the fossil remains of the saber tooth cat found 1.5 million years ago.
The cats existed in Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas during the Miocene and late Pleistocene ages. Researchers believed that humans stripped the flesh from carcasses left to rot. However, the researchers determined that this could not be the case based on the skeletal remains of the cats that revealed they ate their prey whole. Moreover, the prey they ate was also an indicator that the cats were not a protein source.
This research is important because it rules out cats as a protein source. Furthermore, the findings support humans getting their protein from various sources.
