Elephants are widely adored by many people today — but a recent study suggests early humans were butchering them for survival nearly 2 million years ago.A group of international researchers found what they describe as "the earliest direct evidence of proboscidean butchery," including a newly identified elephant butchery site, according to an article published in the spring in the journal eLife.Modern elephants are the only living proboscideans today — a group that once included woolly mammoths and mastodons.The animal bones belonged to Elephas recki, an extinct elephant species.ANCIENT HUMANS WERE HUNTING AND EATING SHARKS 7,000 YEARS AGO, BURIAL SITE DISCOVERY SHOWSThe research centers on Olduvai Gorge, a site in northern Tanzania's Serengeti Plains known for major discoveries of early human fossils and tools.At the site, excavators found stone tools alongside bones of ancient elephants — and the recent paper, written by archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, suggests the remains were likely deliberately butchered by early human ancestors.The remains of ancient elephants that were found in Tanzania (not pictured) point to systematic processing by early human ancestors.
(Universal Images Group via Getty Images)The bones date back some 1.8 million years, during the early Pleistocene epoch.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTERThough researchers have observed evidence of humans hunting large megafauna in later periods, the discovery suggests that early humans processed elephant carcasses more systematically."The food surplus generated by the exploitation of some of these animals would have been a significant advantage."The study also says that early humans' ability to butcher large animals "represents a unique evolutionary trajectory, with no direct modern analogue."The discovery centers on Olduvai Gorge, pictured above — a site long known for major early human fossil and tool findings.(iStock)"This shift in behavior is accompanied by larger, m...