Behavior: The Missing Link to Understanding Diet and Morphology

Mariana Dutra Fogaça (University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna)

Besides intense efforts to understand the relation between diet and morphology in primates, we still cannot extend the findings across different groups. That may occur due to the insufficiency in communication between scientific areas. From an evolutionary perspective, behavior may also play a role in the pattern between morphology and diet. After all, the diet's composition is not only determined by the species and varies on the season, year, and social status. On top of that, several species present complex socially transmitted behaviors to access food, including anvil and stone tools. So how can the confluence of etology and morphological studies expand our understanding of the morphology evolution?