“Cranial Sexual Dimorphism in the Kinda Baboon”

The Kinda baboon is thought to be the smallest member of the genus Papio, according to the study “Cranial Sexual Dimorphism in the Kinda Baboon” by Singleton et al. It used to be thought of as one of the tiniest variations of yellow baboons, but today it is considered to be a different subspecies since it differs from the yellow baboon in several ways, including having a whiter and silkier coat and a darker contrasting Mohawk (Singleton, 665).

The authors also note that Papio’s sexual dimorphism and size variation have a reasonably close association, but there are also some variations in craniodental dimorphism patterns among subspecies. Unlike other baboons, the Kinda baboon possesses shape dimorphism and is also lower in size, however, Kinda’s canine and cranial-shape dimorphism are to a great extent unexceptional in the event size dimorphism is well accounted for (Singleton, 675). Another argument brought forward by the authors is the fact that there exists a great variation of not only residue and size-related shape dimorphism but also patterns of Kinda baboon’s allometry; as it has divergent allometric vector angles, when compared to other subspecies. The most notable feature, in this case, is Kinda’s facial shape which appears masculinized relative to its size particularly among the females, thereby indicating the role played by female sexual selection during the evolution of the dimorphism patterns (Singleton, 675).

Evidence Used to Support Arguments

The use various pieces of evidence to support their arguments; to begin with, they widely use various research findings from a variety of authors who have conducted extensive research on the topic. Moreover, in their research study, the authors use craniometrical data which primarily comprised of 34 3D craniofacial land-marks which were collected in approximately 434 adult crania from the Papio six subspecies (Singleton, 668). To measure cranial dimorphism magnitude, the cranial size of the six species was quantified through a centroid size which is a standard measure. The authors also utilized evidence from the Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) which was used to determine variations in shape dimorphism. On the other, evidence used determine sexual dimorphism patterns was acquired from the MANOVA and the PC scores (Singleton, 6689). One of the most measurements is the Canine Crown Height (CHT) which was used to determine the canine size of the subspecies.

Weaknesses

Conclusively, one of the weaknesses of the author’s argument is that it fails to provide a detailed analysis of the evolutionary history concerning the Kinda baboons; therefore, further study of the Kinda’s biology, as well as socio-ecology, is essential.

Work Cited

Singleton, Michelle, et al. “Cranial sexual dimorphism in the Kinda baboon (Papio hamadryas kindae).” American journal of physical anthropology (2017). 665-678