This chapter outlines niche separation among African savanna herbivores, particularly among grazers of similar body size. Trophic niche differences are related to dentition and digestive anatomy. Browsers are restricted by seasonal food availability while hindgut fermenters tolerate higher dietary fibre than foregut ferments or ruminants. Grazers shift seasonally among grassland types while browsers shift between palatability classes of woody plants. Vegetation components may function as quality, staple, reserve or buffer resources. Sodium is essentially needed.Grass height preferences are not tightly dependent on body size. Body size determines food quality required for metabolic maintenance. Ungulates also vary in their tolerance of heat and cold extremes and in surface water requirements. Security from predations can have an overriding influence on spatial partitioning. The unique feature of Africa’s large herbivore fauna is the predominance of medium–large ruminants.

This chapter outlines the physical changes transforming the earliest ape-men into modern humans and the associated adaptive transitions. Physical advances included (1) establishment of upright locomotion towards the end of the Miocene, (2) divergence of early humans from robust ape-men during the transition into the Pleistocene, (3) emergence of fully competent bipedal locomotion ~1.7 Ma ago, (4) attainment of modern brain capacity after 0.8 Ma, and (5) development of modern facial features after 60 ka. Diets expanded to include underground storage organs of plants to bridge the dry season. The earliest humans added marrow and meat scavenged from carcasses during a midday time window. Locomotory competence combined with bare skin facilitated hunting large ungulates by endurance running after 1.7 Ma. Meat acquisition during the dry season was facilitated by concentrations of grazing ungulates developing near water. To restrict nocturnal predation at base camps, humans needed fire. To compensate for slower reproduction, mortality rates needed to be constrained lower than those incurred by ungulates.