BACKGROUND: In recent years large bibliographic databases have made much of the published literature of biology available for searches. However, the capabilities of the search engines integrated into these databases for text-based bibliographic…
The establishment of a publicly-accessible repository of physiological data on feeding in mammals, the Feeding Experiments End-user Database (FEED), along with improvements in reconstruction of mammalian phylogeny, significantly improves our ability…
Biologists that study mammals continue to discuss the evolution of and functional variation in jaw-muscle activity during chewing. A major barrier to addressing these issues is collecting sufficient in vivo data to adequately capture neuromuscular…
Infrared thermography has become a useful tool to assess surface temperatures of animals for thermoregulatory research. However, surface temperatures are an endpoint along the body's core-shell temperature gradient. Skin and fur are the peripheral…
New World monkeys display a wide range of masticatory apparatus morphologies related to their diverse diets and feeding strategies. While primatologists have completed many studies of the platyrrhine masticatory apparatus, particularly morphometric…
We examined masseter recruitment and firing patterns during chewing in four adult ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), using electromyography (EMG). During chewing of tougher foods, the working-side superficial masseter tends to show, on average, 1.7…
We examined masseter and temporalis recruitment and firing patterns during chewing in five male Belanger's treeshrews (Tupaia belangeri), using electromyography (EMG). During chewing, the working-side masseters tend to show almost three times more…
Thyroid hormones boost animals' basal metabolic rate and represent an important thermoregulatory pathway for mammals that face cold temperatures. Whereas the cold thermal pressures experienced by primates in seasonal habitats at high latitudes and…