Skulls, Skeletons, Canines & Claws

[peter]

'THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MORPHOLOGICAL EFFECT OF CAPTIVITY', Hartstone-Rose A. et al, November 2014

Interesting study about the effect of diet on the skull shape of captive big cats. To keep it short: the effect of diet is more significant than, for example, gender. This should tell you something, as the differences between male and female big cats, skulls included, are pronounced. The advice of the authors is to change the diet of captive big cats: 

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0113437#pone-0113437-t004

Is the difference between captive and wild also seen in canines? Most definitely. Canines of wild big cats are significantly thicker at the insertion in the jaw. Very often, they also are a bit longer. Reply