A recent news report on the impact of carnivory in human evolution begins with a blunt statement:
Carnivory is behind the evolutionary success of humankind.
Hunting is known to have been a crucial event in human evolution. According to Science Daily:
Learning to hunt was a decisive step in human evolution. Hunting necessitated communication, planning and the use of tools, all of which demanded a larger brain. At the same time, adding meat to the diet made it possible to develop this larger brain.
However, developmental psychologist Elia Psouni, lead author of a new report published in PLoS ONE, points to another crucial role of carnivory:
... the strong connection between meat eating and the duration of breast-feeding... Eating meat enabled the breast-feeding periods and thereby the time between births, to be shortened. This must have had a crucial impact on human evolution."
Learn more at Science Daily and PLoS ONE.