Chewing, dental morphology and wear in tapirs (Tapirus spp.) and a comparison of free-ranging and captive specimens.

ABSTRACT: Feeding practice in herbivorous mammals can impact their dental wear, due to excessive or irregular abrasion. Previous studies indicated that browsing species display more wear when kept in zoos compared to natural habitats. Comparable analyses in tapirs do not exist, as their dental anatomy and chewing kinematics are assumed to prevent the use of macroscopic wear proxies such as mesowear. We aimed at describing tapir chewing, dental anatomy and wear, to develop a system allowing comparison of free-ranging and captive specimens even in the absence of known age. Video analyses suggest that in contrast to other perissodactyls, tapirs have an orthal (and no lateral) chewing movement. Analysing cheek teeth from 74 museum specimens, we quantified dental anatomy, determined the sequence of denta

SUBMITTER: Hohl CJM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7295239 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature