Bite Force

Contact person:Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Helbig

Funding status: In preparation

Duration: Since 2013

Project partners:

Dr. Kornelius Kupczik^1,2, Maximilian Bemmann M. Sc.¹, Prof. Martin Fischer², Stefan Curth M. Sc.^{1, 2}

¹ Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
² Institute of Special Zoology and Evolutionary Biology with Museum of Phyletics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

Bite Force Measurement in Dogs

Bite force is a factor that has a significant impact on the feeding and social behaviour of vertebrates. It can be regarded as a performance characteristic directly linked to the evolutionary fitness of an individual (REFS). In a joint project, new measurement systems and methods for a quality-assured quantitative determination of biting forces in dogs are to be developed. Due to their great variability in body size and snout geometry, dogs are model organisms to investigate factors influencing the bite force.

As a first prototype, a training sleeve was sensorized by means of load cells, which allows to measure biting forces during an attack bite in high temporal resolution. Based on this system, preliminary studies are currently being carried out to improve the sensorised bite arm and to develop further measuring systems.

Publications

Bemman, M., Helbig, T., Kupczik, K.: Measuring bite force in the domestic dog (Canis lupus f. familiaris): A novel experimental approach for recording predatory bites in vivo. - In: 11th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM) 2016; Washington DC; 29.6. - 03.07.2016

Student work

Bemmann, M. ; Dargel, J.; Gattig, P. "Bite force measurement in dogs" (design project)

Bemmann, M. "Qualification and optimization of a system for measuring biting forces" (master thesis)

Gattig, P. "Further development of an existing prototype for bite force measurement in dogs by a video-based data acquisition" (master thesis)

Haußmann, T. "Concepts for biting force measurement in canids" (bachelor thesis)

Recknagel, D. "Principles of biting force measurement in mammals" (bachelor thesis)