Tools and Teeth: Some Speculations Regarding Canine Reduction1

Starting with a critique of current beliefs that maxillary canine reduction in hominids was causally related to tool-use and tool-making, the article suggests that reduction took place because selection favored a different pattern of social behavior. Sexual dimorphism and aggressive intragroup behavior tend to be related in terrestrial primates. A shift in hormonal interactions is suggested, such that selection for diminution of aggressiveness resulted in a diminution of sexual dimorphism. Tool-making is seen as one of a number of cognitive reorganizations, not as a causal factor in canine reduction.

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