Humans needed bigger brains, we are told, to hunt “smaller, swifter prey”:
This hypothesis argues that early humans specialized in taking down the largest animals, such as elephants, which would have provided ample fatty meals. When these animals’ numbers declined, humans with bigger brains, who presumably had more brainpower, were better at adapting and capturing smaller prey, which led to better survival for the brainiacs.
Stephanie Pappas, “What fueled humans’ big brains? Controversial paper proposes new hypothesis.” at LiveScience
The paper is open access.
See also: Eating fruit led to bigger brains.
Eating fat led to bigger brains.
Eating starch led to bigger brains
and
Human evolution: The war of trivial explanations