Tools and Teeth: Some Speculations Regarding Canine Reduction 1

Abstract

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.