Many people love elephants today, but a new study says early humans ate elephant meat to survive.

Researchers found evidence that early humans cut up elephant bodies for food nearly 2 million years ago.

Today, only modern elephants are alive from a group that also had woolly mammoths and mastodons. The old elephant bones were from a type called Elephas recki.

Ancient humans also ate shark 7,000 years ago.

The study looked at a place called Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania where old human bones and tools were found.

At Olduvai Gorge, researchers found stone tools and old elephant bones that were likely cut up by early humans.

The elephant bones found in Tanzania show that early humans cut them up on purpose.

The bones are 1.8 million years old from a time called the early Pleistocene.

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This discovery shows that early humans cut up elephant bodies in a systematic way.

Eating big animals gave early humans a lot of food, which was very helpful.

Early humans' ability to cut up big animals is unique and different from what we see today.

The study was done at Olduvai Gorge, a place known for old human fossils and tools.

When early humans started cutting up big animals, their living places became bigger and more complex.

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Early humans did not just eat what they found, but they hunted big animals on purpose.

Meat from big animals like elephants was a big source of food for early humans.

Elephant meat gave early humans a lot of extra food.

Eating big animals helped early humans survive and adapt to their environment.

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We tried to contact the lead researcher for this study.

Researchers are still learning about what people ate a long time ago.

This discovery shows that elephants were important for early humans' diets and survival.

Recently, researchers found old food in Pompeii that showed what people ate before a volcano erupted.

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Researchers also found food DNA on an old cloth that might have been used to bury Jesus.

Andrea Margolis writes about lifestyle for Fox News. You can follow her or send her story ideas.