Let's bite off more than we can chew: Investigating new directions in primate feeding mechanics

Explanations of masticatory form based on feeding behaviors across primates follow a basic conceptual framework that hard/tough foods require increased force production and load resistance during chewing. This framework is built on metric comparisons of jaw form, field studies contrasting primate dietary ecology and lab experiments showing increased bone strain and muscle recruitment during chewing of hard/tough foods. While extremely insightful, the basic paradigm that increased force leads to greater robusticity does not identify all of the potential functional relationships among primate diets, chewing and musculoskeletal form. This talk highlights these factors including morphologies that 1) act to increase jaw excursions at the expense of load resistance, 2) concentrate stresses during biting and therefore potentially reduce internal jaw loads and 3) appear unrelated to specific food properties allowing us to discern how displacement‐ and yield‐limited foods impact bone physiology and morphology. Additional areas of potential future research will be discussed including how food properties relate to the molecular responses of bone during chewing as well as ongoing measurements of feeding physiology in free‐ranging primates chewing in their natural habitats. These new research directions will enhance our conceptual understanding of how feeding impacts the primate masticatory apparatus.