As the junction between the head and the trunk, the neck functions in providinghead stability during behaviors like feeding to facilitating head mobility during behaviorlike grooming and predator vigilance. Despite its importance to these vital behaviors, itsform and function remain poorly understood. Fossil hominin cervical vertebrae preservea striking diversity in form despite the commitment to orthograde bipedality. Do thesedifferences in cervical vertebral form correspond to functional variations among ourrecent ancestors? This dissertation attempts to understand 1) how does the neck functionin head stability and mobility 2) how do these functions relate to cervical vertebral form.Kinematic and passive range of motion studies were conducted in several species ofprimate to obtain measures of function which were subsequently related to skeletal form.

Form and Function of the Primate Cervical Vertebral Column PDF

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