Dr. Jeffrey Thomason is a leading investigator into the functional characteristics of the skull and jaw complex in mammals. He has hypothesized that the shape of cranial bones has evolved, in large part, to resist the tendency to bend when chewing forces are applied. By measuring the biting forces exerted during chewing, and approximating the strength of the bones using engineering principles based on structural beams, Dr. Thomason has been able to learn how closely the strength counters the stress applied to each bone. This study will be extended to carnivores with very different body sizes, and to a sample of ungulate species. The generality and precision of Dr. Thomason's hypothesis will be tested using these results. The proposed research will find a wide audience among mammalogists, functional morphologists, evolutionary biologists, and even medical engineers and orthopedic surgeons. This research will expand our knowledge of the functional performance of the mammal skull, and will test a fascinating proposal for how evolution might be guided.
