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Published on: February 18, 2021
Talking heads: disentangling the shape changes of the large extant hippopotamus during its ontogenetic development
Roberta Martino1,2, Clément Zanolli3, Darío Fidalgo4
1Department of Earth Sciences, GeoBioTec, School of Science and Technology, FCT NOVA, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal.
Abstract:
Using a 3D geometric morphometrics approach, we shed light on the major changes during the ontogenetic development of Hippopotamus amphibius. The main shift in the shape variability of cranial elements in juveniles can probably be related to the interruption of suckling. A less stressed shift in the cranial variability can probably be related to the attainment of sexual maturity. Semilandmarks and landmarks are powerful tools to discriminate between extant species and, therefore, this technique will be particularly useful in the future to study fossil ones as well.
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