Cranial morphometrics

Our research includes looking at geographic variation in skull size and shape.

Examination of the skull has revealed sexual dimorphism in size and shape, which is probably associated with differences in feeding – for example, even when allowing for differences in skull size, males have significantly longer canines than females. Preliminary research was undertaken by final year student Joanna Bishop, supervised by E. Chadwick and F. Slater.

Skeletal material is cleaned and archived by the National Museums of Scotland (in collaboration with Dr Andrew Kitchener, Principal Curator of Vertebrate Biology).