Detecting bone functional adaptation in the capitate of extant hominoids

As a central component of the midcarpal and carpometacarpal joints, the capitate plays a primary role in primate hand biomechanics. Capitate morphology facilitates mobility of the midcarpal joint in suspensory apes, limits extension in knuckle-walking apes, and in humans stabilises the capitometacarpal joint for tool behaviours. Biomechanical loading of the capitate varies across taxa with respect to changes in hand and wrist postures associated with different locomotor and manipulative repertoires. As a metabolically active tissue, internal trabecular bone is known to remodel over the lifetime of an individual, and has the potential to reveal patterns of in vivo loading.