9318747 Weishampel The proposal research aims at examining the ecological and evolutionary patterns of interactions between living rhinoceros species and the plants they feed upon. This analysis will be based on skeletal morphology treating the subjects as if they were extinct, thus forming samples much like those available from the fossil record. Using this perspective the chewing capability among rhinos will be compared to the toughness of leaves of plants associated with these rhinos. This form-function relationship is evaluated using computer modeling techniques. If the chewing capability of these living herbivores is correlated to physical properties of their food, such as toughness, similar kinds of analyses will be possible on fossil material providing important insights into the ecology and behavior of extinct animals. ***
