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Dental Microwear

Few techniques offer a more direct means to assess dietary adaptations in the fossil record than dental microwear analysis. This method involves examining the occlusal surfaces of teeth for the gouges and striations caused by masticated food items. Critical to the success of microwear studies is the discovery of how feeding behavior and food items interact to produce distinctive microwear signatures.

An example of the utility of microwear as a source of paleobiological inference is the case of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest primate that ever lived. With Dr. Fred Grine of SUNY Stony Brook, I tested the hypothesis that this extinct ape subsisted on bamboo by comparing its microwear patterns to those of two living bamboo feeders, Hapalemur (the gentle lemur) and Ailuropoda (the giant panda). To our surprise, it appears that Gigantopithecus was a fairly ecelctic feeder with no obvious dietary specialization -- a conclusion belied by the massive jaws of this primate.

In this image, molar microwear of a chacma baboon (a, top) is contrasted to that of a gelada baboon (b). Both primates spend a good deal of their time feeding on the ground, but chacmas seasonally collect underground tubers whereas geladas specialize on grasses at or above ground level. We hypothesize the large features on chacma teeth are due to the ingestion of grit associated with harvesting foods from the soil. Gelada micrograph courtesy of Mark Teaford, Johns Hopkins University.

Representative Publications

Daegling, D.J. and Grine, F.E. (1994) Bamboo feeding, Dental microwear, and diet of the Pleistocene ape Gigantopithecus blacki. S. Afr. J. Sci. 90: 527-532.