A better understanding of the evolution and morphology of sucking

August 28, 2018
Echidna
Echidna specimen from our collection
Research led by Faculty-Curator Emeritus Alfred "Fuzz" Crompton offers insight into the evolution and morphology of sucking and suggests that monotremes, such as the echidna, lost the ability to suck as their mouths adapted to eat hard-shelled prey. The research was featured in Science.  
See also: Mammalogy