Anna AudlerLS1, Section 2JUID: 304295761Chordates: CarnivoresCarnivores, like those in the Canidae family, have noticeable distinctions betweentheir characteristics between the skull and teeth, which can be seen in the Grey Wolf and the Raccoon Dog. The gray wolf's head is large and heavy, with a wide forehead, strong jaws and a long, blunt muzzle. The teeth are heavy and large, being better suited to crushing bone than those of other extant canines. Its molars have a flat chewing surface, but not to the same extent as the coyote, whose diet contains more vegetable matter. The gray wolf's jaws can exert a crushing pressure due to the force of the lever system, which is sufficient to break open hard objects. Wolves hunt their prey in packs and they prey on large animals, which would explain why they have relatively sharp canine teeth. With the Raccoon dog, they have reduced carnassials and relatively large molars. These animals forage on the ground or on low vegetation. In raccoons the normally enlarged fourth upper premolar and first lower molar are secondarily modified. Their incisors are unspecialized, and their well-developed canines are moderately long and ovate (not round) in cross section. The molars are wide and at least somewhat bunodont. Their skull is also shorter than that of the Grey Wolf, which allows them to be closer to the ground tofeed on vegetation that is closer to the ground. Both the Grey Wolf and Raccoon Dog benefit from their respective skull and tooth morphology, but they do serve the same basic function: “searching” for food and eating food that would require canine teeth as well as fruits and plants. The Raccoon Dog is better suited for smaller food items, as its maxillary bones are smaller than that of the Grey Wolf, however, the Grey Wolf is better suited for bigger prey, like Moose and Elk. Overall, the Raccoon Dog and Grey Wolfshow similar qualities for being in the same order, but yet have different functions for their respective bone structure.References: Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Canidae/Raccoon World.
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