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Ontogeny Of Feeding Performance And Biomechanics In Coyotes, S. S. La Croix, M. L. Zelditch, J. A. Shivik, B. L. Lundrigan, K. E. Holekamp

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Developing organisms must reconcile conflicts between demands of survival within the current life-history stage, with those of maturation, while negotiating the transitions through succeeding stages. In the case of feeding performance, the parts of the feeding apparatus and their biomechanics must maintain functional integrity to meet the feeding needs of a juvenile even as they develop toward their adult form. We concurrently examine the ontogenetic relationships of feeding performance, dentition and feeding biomechanics, relative to key life-history events, utilizing samples drawn from the same population of known-age coyotes Canis latrans. The development of feeding performance is asynchronous with development …