Scientists believe that Neanderthals could eat meat with flies larvae – and this helped them survive. Larvae contain a lot of fats and nitrogen – an important element for our body.
The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Perdiu and Michigan. They studied the previously collected data and conducted experiments with decaying muscle tissue and larvae. It turned out that meat with larvae is rich in nutrients. Perhaps Neanderthals often ate such meat, because they “stored” it in the conditions where larvae appeared.
Prior to this, it was believed that Neanderthals were hunters and ate only fresh meat of large animals. But scientists suggested that they could eat and spoiled meat with larvae, receiving a lot of energy and beneficial substances from this.
Some modern indigenous peoples now eat meat with larvae as a delicacy. For example, the Inuites in the Arctic ate with pleasure such meat, although it looked unattractive.
Scientists continue to explore how long meat with larvae remains useful and when it becomes too spoiled.
