In vivo EMG, bone strain and cineradiography in strepsirrhine primates

灵长类动物的面部呈现出各种各样的形状，特别是在容纳眼睛的骨性眼眶周围。目前尚不清楚这种变化是否反映了对进食或视觉适应的差异。 最近的研究表明，眼眶周围的骨骼在进食时几乎没有受到拉伸，并且已经提出了一套关于灵长类动物眼眶区域进化的“非进食”解释。 也有人认为，眼眶区域可能是适应于抵抗某些灵长类动物的进食力量，但在其他灵长类动物中则不然。 这里提出的研究将确定猴子、猿和人类之间是否存在差异，另一方面，哺乳期婴儿在喂养过程中的眼眶区域功能是否存在差异。 与灵长类动物面部形状的多样性相比，灵长类动物似乎以类似的方式移动下巴。这表明灵长类动物可能在与其他哺乳动物共享的古老、保守的行为模式所决定的范围内进化出了它们的形状差异。这项研究将收集几种灵长类动物同时进行的下颌运动和肌肉活动的数据，以确定在灵长类动物移动下颌和激发咀嚼肌的方式没有发生重大变化的情况下，骨骼形式的变化是否真的发生了。

The faces of primates exhibit a variety of shapes, particularly around the bony orbits, which house the eyes. It is not known whether this variety reflects differences in adaptations to feeding or adaptations to vision. Recent research has suggested that the bones around the orbit are strained very little during feeding, and a suite of "nonfeeding" explanations for the evolution of the primate orbital region have been proposed. It has also been suggested that the orbital region might be adapted for resisting feeding forces in some primates, but not in others. The research proposed here will determine whether there are differences between monkeys, apes and humans on one hand, and bushbabies on the other in the functioning of the orbital region during feeding. In contrast with the diversity in primate facial shape, primates seem to move their jaws in similar ways. This suggests that primates might have evolved their shape differences within the limits dictated by an ancient, conserved, behavior pattern shared with other mammals. This research will collect data on simultaneous jaw movements and muscle activity in several species of primates to determine whether changes in bony form really have proceeded without significant changes in the way primates move their jaws and fire their chewing muscles.