The Function of Interlocking Canines in Rain Forest Peccaries (Tayassuidae)
- 19 August 1981
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Mammalogy
- Vol. 62 (3) , 459-469
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1380394
Abstract
Interlocking canines of rain forest peccaries (Tayassu tajacu and T. pecari) may function to resist forces tending to dislocate the lower jaw when these animals bite hard nuts and seeds. This hypothesis suggests a scenario for the evolutionary divergence between peccaries and pigs that focuses on differences in feeding ecology. Other features of the cranial anatomy of peccaries also appear to reflect use of highly resistant foods.This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- An experimental analysis of temporomandibular joint reaction force in macaquesAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1979
- The functional significance of primate mandibular formJournal of Morphology, 1979
- Functional heterogeneity in a multipinnate muscleJournal of Anatomy, 1979
- Incisal bite force direction in humans and the functional significance of mammalian mandibular translationAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1978
- Function and fusion at the mandibular symphysisAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1977
- Fossil Peccary from the Pliocene of South AfricaScience, 1976
- The dynamics of mastication in pigsArchives of Oral Biology, 1976