Understanding Body Shapes of Animals

Simplifies a complicated picture of why a particular shape has evolved into its current form

Provides an interdisciplinary approach that integrates mechanics into biology, anatomy and paleontology
Passes on knowledge of zoological, primatological and anthropological aspects of functional morphology gathered by the author for more than half a century

Autorentext

Prof. Dr. Holger Preuschoft is an Emeritus Professor at the Center for Anatomy, Ruhr-Universität in Bochum, Germany. 13 years back he was awarded the title "Docteur honoris causa" by the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. He has published more than 196 papers, and edited 9 multi-author books over the course of his career.

Inhalt
Chapter1: Why this book?.- Chapter2: Head.- Chapter3: Axial skeleton in aquatic animals.- Chapter4: Axial skeleton and muscle arrangement in terrestrial tetrapods.- Chapter5: What have the extremities of lower tetrapods in common? And Why?.- Chapter6: Birds.- Chapter7: Land-living mammals.- Chapter8: Primates, the group including humans.- Chapter9: Evolution of hominids.- Chapter10: Summary, Conclusions and Open questions.