. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. Fig. 51. Lateral views of skulls and horn-cores of Damaliscus lunatus (left) and Alcelaphus buselaphus (right), shown at their normal inclinations when not feeding. Functional skull morphology and evolution in alcelaphines The two functions which mainly lead to variation of skull morphology among bovids are feeding (ingestion and mastication) and horn support. Other functions, such as breathing or input of sensory information, must not be impaired by changes in feeding habits or horn support, but are
. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. Fig. 51. Lateral views of skulls and horn-cores of Damaliscus lunatus (left) and Alcelaphus buselaphus (right), shown at their normal inclinations when not feeding. Functional skull morphology and evolution in alcelaphines The two functions which mainly lead to variation of skull morphology among bovids are feeding (ingestion and mastication) and horn support. Other functions, such as breathing or input of sensory information, must not be impaired by changes in feeding habits or horn support, but are not themselves the cause of larger scale morphological changes. In living Damaliscus and Alcelaphus (Fig. 51) the most notable feature of the skull is the long face. The most likely explanation for this is that animals grazing at ground level need to have eyes as high as possible to avoid being surprised by predators. In line with this requirement they also show long diastemata, tooth-row forward of orbital level (especially in Alcelaphus), and the brain cavity becoming realigned diagonally instead of horizontally. When not feeding, Alcelaphus, and to a lesser extent Damaliscus, hold their heads more nearly vertical than non-alcelaphine antelopes. (When asleep while standing (Plessis 1972, fig. 11) their heads can swing even further to an almost inverted position.) This is mechanically more. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original South African Museum. Cape Town : The Museum
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
