About

David Daegling is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida, where he has been a faculty member since 2000, advancing from Associate Professor to full Professor in 2011. His academic career includes previous appointments at Yale University, California College of Podiatric Medicine, and Duke University, reflecting a strong background in biological anthropology and anatomy. He is a member of professional organizations such as the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and the National Center for Science Education, and has received multiple honors including the University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship and term professorships in anthropology at UF, as well as fellowships at Yale University and awards from physical anthropology associations. Professor Daegling's research focuses on biomechanical modeling of skeletal structures, dental microwear analysis, and paleoanthropology. His work on biomechanical modeling aims to develop and test models that characterize stress and strain profiles applicable to comparative samples, contributing to understanding bone adaptation and mechanical properties in primates. In dental microwear, he investigates the impact of diet and ingestive behavior on occlusal microwear formation to improve dietary inference in the fossil record. His paleoanthropological research centers on functional and biomechanical inference related to mastication in the hominin fossil record, exploring the relationships between feeding ecology and morphology. Additionally, Daegling has contributed to science education and skeptical inquiry, notably examining the cultural phenomenon of Bigfoot through an anthropological lens. His interdisciplinary approach integrates biomechanics, functional morphology, and dietary ecology to advance knowledge of primate and human evolution.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Microbiology
• Business
• Evolutionary biology
• Geology
• Virology
• Genetics
• Zoology

Selected publications

• Phylogenetic Influence on Bone Material Stiffness in the Mandibles of Cercopithecid Primates

  American Journal of Biological Anthropology · 2026-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: Variation in the material properties of bone has been linked to functional activity in mammals, including primates. This coheres to the paradigm that skeletal morphology, in general, provides insight into species-specific physical activity patterns. The role of phylogenetic history in conditioning bone material properties, however, is largely unexplored, despite consensus that patterns of morphological variation should be sensitive to degrees of relatedness among sampled taxa. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected microindentation hardness data (a measure of bone material stiffness) from the mandibles of five sympatric primate species from Taï Forest, Côte d'Ivoire to test the hypothesis that degree of relatedness, rather than species differences in diet and feeding behavior, is more strongly associated with bone material variation. This hypothesis is tested using a generalized linear mixed model with Bayesian inference. RESULTS: Phylogenetic distance has a significant association with bone stiffness, with colobines exhibiting more compliant bone than cercopithecines. The alternative hypothesis, that differences in dietary mechanical demands are reflected in bone stiffness variation, is not supported. DISCUSSION: While these findings suggest a role for phylogeny in constraining skeletal adaptation, a functional explanation is not necessarily precluded. Ingestive behavioral differences between subfamily members may provide a biomechanical framework for explaining what is, at present, a nebulous invocation of phylogenetic "baggage."

  PublisherDOI

• Dinner with Lucy: what does Paranthropus boisei bring to the table?

  Comptes Rendus Palevol · 2025-06-20 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Recent findings have transformed our thinking about early hominin diets. Most notably, evidence from dental microwear, carbon isotopes, and dental chipping has challenged notions of hard object feeding in “Nutcracker Man”, Paranthropus boisei Leakey, 1959. Less attention has been paid to its likely ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis Johanson, White & Coppens, 1978. Yet, there are reasons to suspect that disruptive ideas about P. boisei diet are highly relevant for Lucy and her kin. These reasons include: 1) the dental microwear of Au. afarensis and P. boisei is virtually identical, and shows no evidence of variation linked to habitat change; 2) the carbon isotope ratios of Au. afarensis are similar to those of early Paranthropus Broom, 1938 in the Omo; and 3) Au. afarensis manifests an early stage of a masticatory trend that reaches its quintessence in P. boisei, making it reasonable to argue that these taxa experienced similar selective pressures regarding diet. In this paper, we discuss the dietary ecology of Au. afarensis in light of lessons gleaned from its highly derived and enigmatic descendant P. boisei.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Daily Rest, Osteogenic Signals, and the Reconstruction of Human Activity Patterns From Skeletal Remains

  International Journal of Osteoarchaeology · 2025-11-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Skeletal morphology is thought to provide a direct, if imprecise, means of inferring activity pattern in bioarchaeological and paleontological contexts. Given that bone is responsive to load histories, variation in daily activity is expected to impact the skeleton in predictable ways. Both the frequency and severity of daily loads have been shown to influence osteogenesis and, by extension, skeletal mass and robusticity. Consequently, population differences in skeletal robusticity have been treated as indicators of variation in daily activity duration and severity. However, evidence has also emerged that the timing and spacing of daily activity affect the transduction of osteogenic signals that promote bone apposition. In particular, periods of inactivity are necessary for the full benefit of daily loads to be realized as increases in bone mass. This paper uses simulation of empirically derived mathematical descriptors of bone mechanosensitivity to explore how patterning of rest intervals impacts the osteogenic potential of daily activity. These simulations offer three insights: (1) The timing of loads during daily activity has discernible osteogenic impacts, (2) maximum osteogenic potential is best achieved via relatively few but long‐duration periods of inactivity, and (3) there is substantial overlap in the osteogenic potential among different activity–inactivity profiles. This last insight suggests that granular reconstructions of past activity from skeletal remains will be challenging.

  PublisherDOI

• Technical note: Effects of chemical, radiational, and thermal treatment of bone tissue on material stiffness and anisotropy

  American Journal of Biological Anthropology · 2024-11-15

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the effects of four treatments for pathogen inactivation in bone tissue (ethanol storage, formalin fixation, gamma irradiation, and heat treatment via autoclave) on stiffness and anisotropy values in bone samples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cortical bone samples from the humerus of 14 bovine specimens were subjected to Knoop microindentation analysis in longitudinal and transverse planes of section and four indenter orientations within each section. From each specimen, individual samples were assigned to one of five treatment conditions: 50% ethanol-saline solution, formalin immersion, gamma irradiation, autoclave, and buffered saline (controls). Each sample was microindented 100 times and the resultant stiffness data were analyzed by a resampled factorial analysis of variance. RESULTS: First- and second-order interactions as well as main effects of indenter orientation, treatment, and specimen were significant for both transverse and longitudinal sections, with the sole exception that indenter orientation-treatment interaction was nonsignificant for longitudinal sections. Interaction plots reveal that thermal (autoclave) and irradiation treatments depress stiffness values the most, while patterns of indentation stiffness at different orientations are relatively unaffected. DISCUSSION: Patterns of anisotropy are relatively unaffected by preservative treatments, but elastic modulus changes are consistent and unambiguous. Formalin and ethanol treatments are most comparable to controls and represent the best preservative media for mechanical testing. These options, however, are likely to be the least effective for ensuring the inactivation or sterilization of potentially contaminated samples.

  PublisherDOI

• Limb and hip morphology of two African colobine monkeys and its relationship to the mechanics of leaping and bounding locomotion

  American Journal of Biological Anthropology · 2023-08-31 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVES: Although a bounding gait is practiced by a diversity of animals, the morphological characteristics, kinematics, and energetics associated with this locomotor form remain poorly understood. This study focuses on the locomotor anatomy of two species of African colobine monkeys (Piliocolobus badius, a leaper, and Colobus polykomos, a leaper-bounder) in an effort to assess if bounding should be considered a unique primate locomotor category or is better viewed as a behavior on a leaping continuum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 53 femora, 28 humeri, and 45 ossa coxae from the two species provide comparative morphological data. Free-body models of bounding and leaping are presented to characterize loading conditions. Species differences in morphometric traits are evaluated via parametric and nonparametric tests (i.e., analysis of variance, resampling). RESULTS: C. polykomos exhibits traits that align more closely with putative leaping specializations when compared to P. badius (e.g., large femoral head, long femur, low femoral neck angle), while also possessing certain traits that are not (e.g., long femoral neck and reduced relative femoral robusticity). Consequently, C. polykomos likely experiences absolutely greater joint forces at the hip and higher bending at the femoral neck both when it leaps and bounds, given equivalent accelerations in bounding and leaping. DISCUSSION: Bounding is best described as a form of low-acceleration leaping. If bounding has lower acceleration requirements relative to leaping, C. polykomos achieves locomotor competence with less energy, relatively smaller bending moments, and reduced joint forces.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Genomic and Phylogenetic Analysis of Bacillus cereus Biovar anthracis Isolated from Archival Bone Samples Reveals Earlier Natural History of the Pathogen

  Pathogens · 2023-08-20 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  had acquired two anthrax-like plasmids, one a pXO1-like toxin producing plasmid and the other a pXO2-like plasmid encoding capsule. Bcbva caused animal fatalities in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic between 2004 and 2012. (2) Methods: The pathogen had acquired plasmids in the wild and that was discovered as the cause of widespread animal fatalities in the early 2000s. Primate bones had been shipped out of the endemic zone for anthropological studies prior to the realized danger of contamination with Bcbva. Spores were isolated from the bone fragments and positively identified as Bcbva. Strains were characterized by classical microbiological methods and qPCR. Four new Bcbva isolates were whole-genome sequenced. Chromosomal and plasmid phylogenomic analysis was performed to provide temporal and spatial context to these new strains and previously sequenced Bcbva. Tau and principal component analyses were utilized to identify genetic and spatial case patterns in the Taï National Park anthrax zone. (3) Results: Preliminary studies positively identified Bcbva presence in several archival bone fragments. The animals in question died between 1994 and 2010. Previously, the earliest archival strains of Bcbva were identified in 1996. Though the pathogen has a homogeneous genome, spatial analyses of a subset of mappable isolates from Taï National Park revealed strains found closer together were generally more similar, with strains from chimpanzees and duikers having the widest distribution. Ancestral strains were located mostly in the west of the park and had lower spatial clustering compared to more recent isolates, indicating a local increase in genetic diversity of Bcbva in the park over space and time. Global clustering analysis indicates patterns of genetic diversity and distance are shared between the ancestral and more recently isolated type strains. (4) Conclusions: Our strains have the potential to unveil historical genomic information not available elsewhere. This information sheds light on the evolution and emergence of a dangerous anthrax-causing pathogen.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mechanobiology of human pisiform formation as a model for endochondral ossification

  The Anatomical Record · 2023-06-07 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  The role of mechanical stimuli in promoting endochondral ossification during somatic growth and maturation remains an active area of research. This study employs a pisiform model of endochondral ossification to investigate the potential role of mechanobiological signals in the appearance and development of ossification centers and to develop theoretical applications to the primate basicranium. We constructed finite element models based on the structure of a human pisiform within the flexor carpi ulnaris tendon. The pisiform was assigned initial material properties of hyaline cartilage, and tendon properties were based on in situ observations drawn from the literature. A macaque growth model was used to simulate increased load over time as a function of body mass. A load case of uniaxial tension from the tendon was applied over 208 iterations, to simulate weekly growth over a 4-year span. The mechanical signal was defined as shear stress. Element stresses were evaluated in each iteration, with elements exceeding the yield threshold subsequently assigned a higher elastic modulus to mimic mechanically driven mineralization. Three unique mineralization rates were tested. Regardless of rate, all ossification simulations predict a pisiform with heterogeneous stiffness through alternating periods of material stasis and active mineralization/ossification. Assuming metabolic processes underlying endochondral ossification are similar throughout the body, our model suggests that a mechanical signal alone is an insufficient stimulus in the etiology of bone formation through endochondral ossification. Consequently, given the general validity of the simulation, endochondral ossification cannot be fully explained in terms of mechanical stimuli.

  PublisherDOI

• The game of models: Dietary reconstruction in human evolution

  Journal of Human Evolution · 2022-12-13 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Despite substantial additions to the paleontological record and unanticipated improvements in analytical techniques since the Journal of Human Evolution was first published, consensus on the diet of early hominin species remains elusive. For instance, the notable advances in the analyses of hominin dental microwear and stable isotopes have provided a plethora of data that have in some instances clouded what was once ostensibly a clear picture of dietary differentiation between and within hominin taxa. In the present study, we explore the reasons why the retrodiction of diet in human evolution has proven vexing over the last half century from the perspective of both ecological and functional-mechanical models. Such models continue to be indispensable for paleobiological reconstructions, but they often contain rigid or unstated assumptions about how primary paleontological data, such as fossils and their geological and taphonomic contexts, allow unambiguous insight into the evolutionary processes that produced them. In theoretical discussions of paleobiology, it has long been recognized that a mapping function of morphology to adaptation is not one-to-one, in the sense that a particular trait cannot necessarily be attributed to a specific selective pressure and/or behavior. This article explores how the intrinsic variability within biological systems has often been underappreciated in paleoanthropological research. For instance, to claim that derived anatomical traits represent adaptations related to stereotypical behaviors largely ignores the importance of biological roles (i.e., how anatomical traits function in the environment), a concept that depends on behavioral flexibility for its potency. Similarly, in the paleoecological context, the underrepresentation of variability within the 'edible landscapes' our hominin ancestors occupied has inhibited an adequate appreciation of early hominin dietary flexibility. Incorporating the reality of variation at organismal and ecological scales makes the practice of paleobiological reconstruction more challenging, but in return, allows for a better appreciation of the evolutionary possibilities that were open to early hominins.

  PublisherDOI

• Problems with Paranthropus

  Quaternary International · 2022 · 21 citations

  • Business
  • Geology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Masticatory and ingestive effort in Procolobus verus, a small-bodied African colobine

  Primates · 2022-04-01 · 5 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Biomechanical significance of bone material variation in the locomotor skeleton

  NSF · $67k · 2014–2019

• Collaborative Research: Research: Functional and ecological correlates of bone material variation in cercopithecoid mandibles

  NSF · $119k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• W. Scott McGraw

  The Ohio State University

  58 shared

• Frederick E. Grine

  Stony Brook School

  20 shared

• Jordan Traff

  University of Florida

  19 shared

• William L. Hylander

  Duke University

  15 shared

• Andrew J. Rapoff

  Union College

  14 shared

• James D. Pampush

  High Point University

  11 shared

• Taylor A. Polvadore

  University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

  8 shared

• Susan E. Lad

  High Point University

  8 shared