Microwear in modern squirrels in relation to diet

Dental microwear consists of microscopic damage features on the occlusal surfaces of tooth enamel and reflects physical properties of the diet, as well as enamel structure and post- mortem history of the tooth. Microwear analysis has been used to infer the diets of extinct mammals through comparison of features on fossil teeth with those on teeth of living mammals with known diets. A method for documenting microwear of large mammals using a light microscope was developed as an alternative to approaches based on scanning electron microscopy. We adapted this method for investigating microwear features on squirrel teeth. Both modern and fossil squirrels occur in diverse terrestrial habitats and eat a range of herbivorous to omnivorous diets.