Small skeletons show size-specific scaling: an exploration of allometry in the mammalian lumbar spine
S. M. Smith,
L. R. Heaney,
K. D. Angielczyk
Abstract:Studies of vertebrate bone biomechanics often focus on skeletal adaptations at upper extremes of body mass, disregarding the importance of skeletal adaptations at lower extremes. Yet mammals are ancestrally small and most modern species have masses under 5 kg, so the evolution of morphology and function at small size should be prioritized for understanding how mammals subsist. We examined allometric scaling of lumbar vertebrae in the small-bodied Philippine endemic rodents known as cloud rats, which vary in ma… Show more
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