Scientists use 3D reconstructions to study animal jaw mechanics
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 - 08:30
in Biology & Nature
Studying the muscles that animals use to bite and chew can tell us a lot about their eating habits. In the past, researchers often undertook painstaking dissection of animal specimens by hand to visualize the muscles used for specific tasks like chewing. Physical damage from the separation of muscle layers during dissection and the effects of dehydration post-mortem can limit the accuracy of manual dissection, making this option less than ideal. In two recent PLOS ONE studies, researchers show us that modern "digital dissection" technologies can be used to avoid the problems associated with traditional dissections in two very different animals, one cute and cuddly and one slimy and giant.