The Primate Semicircular Canal System and Locomotion

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2007 Jun 20

PMID 17576932

Citations 104

Authors

Fred Spoor

Theodore Garland Jr

Gail Krovitz

Timothy M Ryan

Mary T Silcox

Alan Walker

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The semicircular canal system of vertebrates helps coordinate body movements, including stabilization of gaze during locomotion. Quantitative phylogenetically informed analysis of the radius of curvature of the three semicircular canals in 91 extant and recently extinct primate species and 119 other mammalian taxa provide support for the hypothesis that canal size varies in relation to the jerkiness of head motion during locomotion. Primate and other mammalian species studied here that are agile and have fast, jerky locomotion have significantly larger canals relative to body mass than those that move more cautiously.

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