Profile Plot (IMAGE)
Caption
Using the skulls of five different types of modern meat-eating and more omnivorous "generalist" mammals and two extinct relatives, researchers mapped bite force against skull stiffness to produce the biomechanical profiles seen in this graph. Surprisingly, animals with the same diets and biomechanical demands, like wolves and leopards--both predominately meat-eaters -- do not link together. Instead, researchers saw strong influence from ancestry, where, for example, the leopard and the mongoose clump together because they are more closely related in an evolutionary context (both part of the suborder Feliformia), although they have very different dietary preferences and feeding strategies.
Credit
© AMNH/Z.-J. Tseng
Usage Restrictions
Can be used with appropriate credit
License
Licensed content