Is this the world's most gruesome – and unluckiest – death? Ancient human attacked by two deadly predators at once

Homo habilis is the first species in a genus called Homo - the taxonomic group that includes us, Homo sapiens. This archaic species first appeared 2.8 million years ago in Africa and, unlike later human species, never spread beyond the continent it originated in, says Will Newton.

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While they may be regarded as ‘humans’, they were a lot smaller than humans living today. From studies of their skeletons, researchers have estimated that the average Homo habilis stood 1.3m tall (4ft 3in) and weighed in at just under 40kg. 

They also had smaller brains than modern humans and are thought to have behaved more like savanna chimps and baboons. That said, they could make and use tools, just like us.

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The first fossils of Homo habilis were discovered in 1960 at a site known as Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, East Africa. These remains belong to a 1.75-million-year-old individual that researchers have named OH 7 and they include skull fragments and the lower part of a jaw.

A disarticulated (separated at the joint) left foot was found at another site just 200m away and has been interpreted, by some, as also belonging to OH 7.

These remains are covered in tooth marks that are indicative of two different types of predators. The pits on OH 7’s left foot are thought to have been made by a crocodile, while the gouges on the fragments of skull share a lot of similarities with those made by leopards on modern primates.

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It has been suggested that one predator may have killed OH 7 while the other later scavenged its carcass. 

However, the crocodile-shaped bite marks are only found on one foot and the damage inflicted to the skull was in a spot often associated with predatory behaviour from leopards, suggesting OH 7 may have been attacked by both predators simultaneously.

This paints a particularly grisly, albeit rather speculative picture; one where OH 7 may have had its foot grabbed by a crocodile as it knelt down for a drink at a waterhole, only to then find its head pulled in the opposite direction by a leopard that had just pounced from the nearby bushes. 

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The result was a prehistoric tug-of-war between two apex predators of the time, both of whom seemingly got something out of the tussle - the crocodile OH 7’s left foot and the leopard OH 7’s head.

You don’t need to know that the bite marks show no signs of healing to work out that OH 7 didn’t survive this deadly encounter.

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