Afarensis: Primate Canines: Weapons or Display?

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Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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Primate Canines: Weapons or Display?

Category: Osteology • Primatology
Posted on: June 30, 2008 10:19 PM, by afarensis, FCD

Science Daily has an interesting item called Canine Tooth Strength Provides Clues To Behavior Of Early Human Ancestors. It concerns a recent analysis of primate canine strength by Michael Plavcan and Christopher Ruff:

The researchers compared the size, shape and strength of canine teeth from 144 primates with similar measurements taken from 45 carnivores. They examined the relationship of the size of primates' canines to body size and the relative strength of the teeth. This comparison could help answer the speculation about the function of male primates' canine teeth in the competition for females. Are the canines used as weapons or simply for display?
"The reason we wanted to use the carnivores is that we know carnivores use their canines for killing," Plavcan said. "If primates' canines are too weak to function as weapons, then they're all just for show."

Among anthropoid primates, it is well known that the canine teeth of males are up to four times as long as those of females. The researchers compared the canine teeth of male and female primates.

"If the male's canines are stronger than the female's canines that would imply there is sexual selection for strength and that the tooth is actually used as a weapon," Plavcan said.

Results indicated that primate canines in general are as strong as the canines in carnivores. Male primate canines were also, not appreciably stronger than in females, leading the researchers to discount sexual selection.

The study is being published in the May issue of the AJPA.

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