evolutionary-anatomy

Anatomy, human evolutionary anatomy and comparative primate anatomy aim to understand the contributions of environment, development, and phylogenetic history to animal form. By exploring the links between form and function in living primates, comparative anatomy also provides an objective basis for inferring behaviour in extinct species, through reconstructing the functional anatomy of fossil remains.

Studies of comparative and evolutionary anatomy are fundamental to taxonomy and phylogenetic reconstruction and seek to provide a better understanding of our own place in nature. Studies of growth processes also help explain how and why changes in shape and size have occurred both past and present, not only within individuals, but over the course of our evolutionary history.