Caley Orr
I am a biological anthropologist with specific research interests in paleoanthropology, primate evolution, and comparative anatomy.
My work primarily focuses on the functional morphology of the postcranial skeleton in extant primates and fossil hominins (human ancestors) with special emphasis on the hands and feet and their relevance to understanding the origins of human bipedality, manual manipulative capabilities and tool use.
I also co-direct excavations at the late Pleistocene archaeological site of Arma Veirana in the Liguria region of Italy with an international team of collaborators. This site documents the Middle Paleolithic, late Upper Paleolithic, and Mesolithic deposits in this critical area of southern Europe.
In my educational life, I teach human gross anatomy to graduate students, dental students, and medical students at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and advise MA students in anthropology at CU Denver.
Address: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
University of Colorado
Anschutz Medical Campus
Mail Stop F435
13001 East 17th Place
Aurora, CO 80045
My work primarily focuses on the functional morphology of the postcranial skeleton in extant primates and fossil hominins (human ancestors) with special emphasis on the hands and feet and their relevance to understanding the origins of human bipedality, manual manipulative capabilities and tool use.
I also co-direct excavations at the late Pleistocene archaeological site of Arma Veirana in the Liguria region of Italy with an international team of collaborators. This site documents the Middle Paleolithic, late Upper Paleolithic, and Mesolithic deposits in this critical area of southern Europe.
In my educational life, I teach human gross anatomy to graduate students, dental students, and medical students at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and advise MA students in anthropology at CU Denver.
Address: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
University of Colorado
Anschutz Medical Campus
Mail Stop F435
13001 East 17th Place
Aurora, CO 80045
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Papers by Caley Orr
Primates employ wrist ulnar deviation during a variety of locomotor and manipulative behaviors. Extant hominoids share a derived condition in which the ulnar styloid process has limited articulation or is completely separated from the proximal carpals, which is often hypothesized to increase ulnar deviation range of motion. Acute angulation of the hamate's triquetral facet is also hypothesized to facilitate ulnar deviation mobility and mechanics. In this study, we test these longstanding ideas.
Methods
Three-dimensional (3D) carpal kinematics were examined using a cadaveric sample of Pan troglodytes, Pongo sp., and five monkey species. Ulnar styloid projection and orientation of the hamate's triquetral facet were quantified using 3D models.
Results
Although carpal rotation patterns in Pan and Pongo were uniquely similar in some respects, P. troglodytes exhibited overall kinematic similarity with large terrestrial cercopithecoids (Papio and Mandrillus). Pongo, Macaca, and Ateles had high wrist ulnar deviation ranges of motion, but Pongo did this via a unique mechanism. In Pongo, the triquetrum functions as a distal carpal rather than part of the proximal row. Ulnar styloid projection and wrist ulnar deviation range of motion were not correlated but ulnar deviation range of motion and the triquetrohamate facet orientation were correlated.
Conclusions
Increased ulnar deviation mobility is not the function of ulnar styloid withdrawal in hominoids. Instead, this feature probably reduces stress on the ulnar side wrist or is a byproduct of adaptations that increase supination. Orientation of the hamate's triquetral facet offers some potential to reconstruct ulnar deviation mobility in extinct primates.
Primates employ wrist ulnar deviation during a variety of locomotor and manipulative behaviors. Extant hominoids share a derived condition in which the ulnar styloid process has limited articulation or is completely separated from the proximal carpals, which is often hypothesized to increase ulnar deviation range of motion. Acute angulation of the hamate's triquetral facet is also hypothesized to facilitate ulnar deviation mobility and mechanics. In this study, we test these longstanding ideas.
Methods
Three-dimensional (3D) carpal kinematics were examined using a cadaveric sample of Pan troglodytes, Pongo sp., and five monkey species. Ulnar styloid projection and orientation of the hamate's triquetral facet were quantified using 3D models.
Results
Although carpal rotation patterns in Pan and Pongo were uniquely similar in some respects, P. troglodytes exhibited overall kinematic similarity with large terrestrial cercopithecoids (Papio and Mandrillus). Pongo, Macaca, and Ateles had high wrist ulnar deviation ranges of motion, but Pongo did this via a unique mechanism. In Pongo, the triquetrum functions as a distal carpal rather than part of the proximal row. Ulnar styloid projection and wrist ulnar deviation range of motion were not correlated but ulnar deviation range of motion and the triquetrohamate facet orientation were correlated.
Conclusions
Increased ulnar deviation mobility is not the function of ulnar styloid withdrawal in hominoids. Instead, this feature probably reduces stress on the ulnar side wrist or is a byproduct of adaptations that increase supination. Orientation of the hamate's triquetral facet offers some potential to reconstruct ulnar deviation mobility in extinct primates.