In association with airorhynchy, or retroflexion of the facial skeleton on the cranial base, the skull of the extinct vertical-clinging Malagasy lemuroid Megaladapis possesses a backwardly-oriented foramen magnum. It is suggested that these two features form part of a functional complex which in effect turned the animal’s head into an extension of the neck, greatly increasing the radius within which dental cropping of food materials was possible from a single resting position.