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Our Ancestors Were ‘Hobbits’ Who Had a Strange Relationship With Komodo Dragons, Study Finds

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07.07.2026

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Our Ancestors Were ‘Hobbits’ Who Had a Strange Relationship With Komodo Dragons, Study Finds

Three-foot-tall dudes living alongside the world’s largest lizards. What could be better.

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According to new research published in Science Advances and reported by CNN, we had hobbit-like ancestors, and apparently they had an appetite worthy of Tolkien’s hobbits. These tiny human relatives lived alongside Komodo dragons on the Indonesian island of Flores and, instead of hunting giant prey themselves, they were a bit more opportunistic, as they waited for the world’s largest lizards to finish eating before helping themselves to what was left.

Since the discovery of Homo floresiensis in Liang Bua Cave in 2003, archaeologists have debated whether these three-foot-tall hominins were sophisticated hunters able to bring down........

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