As humans and animals grow, we don’t just get bigger, we also change shape, in ways that tell us how evolution has acted on our development. As an evolutionary biologist, I am keen to identify features that distinguish related species or the male and female of the same species that are not simply the consequence of differences in size, but arise from evolutionary pressures acting in other ways. To do this I look for evidence among fossilised and contemporary skeletons.
This work can range from interpreting the shape changes associated with different sized male and female faces, to understanding the rapid dwarfism of large animals that become isolated on islands.
For example, does the tall angular jaw of a man make him more attractive, or is it just a consequence of larger male size? And do the shortened toes of a dwarf hippopotamus make it better adapted to an island terrain, or does the adult dwarf hippo just resemble the juvenile of the larger mainland ancestor?
My current research project on island dwarfism in mammals is hosted by the Palaeontology Department of the Natural History Museum, London, UK, in collaboration with mammalian evolutionary biologist Professor Adrian Lister and ancient DNA specialist Dr Cecilia Anderung.
My previous research projects have included work on sexual dimorphism in primate and human skulls, and on the evolutionary history of the hippopotamus based on fossil finds in East Africa.
I can be contacted at e.weston@nhm.ac.uk.
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