Descriptive and quantitative analyses of electromyograms (EMG) from the jaw adductors during feeding in mammals have demonstrated both similarities and differences among species in chewing motor patterns. These observations have led to a number of…
Animals must overcome the physical properties protecting foods to obtain nutrition. While animals can experience selection for traits that facilitate resource exploitation, specific feeding behaviors may entail multiple, different mechanical…
We describe pads on the thumb of five vespertilionoid bats based on microanatomy and scanning microscopy and make inferences about their function. The pad of Thyroptera adheres by means of suction, and that of Tylonycteris uses dry adhesion. The pad…
The combination of aspirin, a thienopyridine derivative, and a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor has become standard therapy for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Recent studies have shown an increased incidence of…
Tympanic bullae and baleen plates from bowhead whales of the Western Arctic population were examined. Growth layer groups (GLGs) in the involucrum of the tympanic bone were used to estimate age of the whales, and compared to stable isotope signatures…
Unlike other mammals, odontocetes and mysticetes have highly derived craniofacial bones. A growth process referred to as "telescoping" is partly responsible for this morphology. Here, we explore how changes in facial morphology during fetal growth…
The hypothesis that flower shape affects nectar-feeding performance was examined for the nectarivorous bat, Syconycteris australis. Experiments using feeders with artificial flowers of different diameters demonstrated that the narrow flower diameter…
Analyses of New World skeletal populations for the presence of erosions an other osseous alterations and their character, distribution, and radiologic appearance shows that osteoarthritis is predominantly a disease of animals raised in artificially…
Sixty skeletons of Callithrix jacchus were examined to identify spondy-loarthropathy. Erosive disease in Callithrix was confirmed as spondy-loarthropathy on the basis of diagnostic sacroiliac erosions, syndesmophyte formation, and the nature and…
Amphibians overwintering in ice-covered aquatic environments encounter levels of hypoxia that present significant challenges to the maintenance of aerobic metabolism. Earlier laboratory experiments showed that cold-submerged frogs will seek out lower…
There are numerous records of conjoined twinning in humans and domesticated animals, but many fewer for wild animals because of the early death of conjoined twins. We here describe the incidental discovery and skeletal anatomy of a wild-caught bat…
Recent morphometric analyses have led to dissimilar conclusions about whether the jaws of tree-gouging primates are designed to resist the purportedly large forces generated during this biting behavior. We further address this question by comparing…
Bone pathology provides a window to environment and predation, allowing confident comparison of fossils and subfossils with their modern descendents. Exclusive of modern contaminated environments, the frequency of bone disease in frogs does not seem…
